Guadeloupe .net
Ananas Guadeloupe
It was in 1493 that Christopher Columbus discovered pineapple. As a token of welcome, a slice of this fruit was offered to him when he arrived on the island. At the time, the islanders had a tradition of hanging a pineapple on their doorstep as a mark of hospitality.
Three varieties are mainly present in Guadeloupe:
- the bottle pineapple: also called sugar loaf. This variety is specific to Guadeloupe. It has an elongated shape and is very sweet, with a taste close to honey. It can be eaten both raw and cooked.
- the cayenne pineapple: round, it must be eaten very ripe to avoid its acidity.
- the Queen Victoria pineapple: also round but smaller, its flesh has an orange color.
In Guadeloupe, pineapple growing is mainly practiced by small producers; around 500 farms exist to date. The regions of the Côte-au-Vent and the north of Basse-Terre are more suited to the production of this fruit. It was only from the 1970s that pineapple growing took its place in Guadeloupean agriculture. In recent years, the areas reserved for pineapple production have tended to increase. Production volume remains very limited, however, compared with the largest producers such as Thailand or China, with only a little more than 5,000 tonnes produced annually. Exports of this fruit are nil, as production does not even cover the needs of the local population.
Guadeloupean pineapple producers are trying to energize and organize this agricultural sector; indeed, some have joined together and created the A.P.A.G (Association des Producteurs d'Ananas de la Guadeloupe).
In cooking, pineapple lends itself to many recipes and is often flavored with local spices such as cinnamon or vanilla.
There are also other varieties of pineapple that have the particularity of not bearing fruit, such as:
- "mountain pineapple": visible at the summit of La Soufrière, it produces beautiful yellow or red flowers.
- "wood pineapple": an atypical plant that also grows on other trees, on roofs or even on electrical cables, mainly present in the humid zones of Basse-Terre.
