h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've just eaten a pineapple.

Where are the pips?

Still touring with Gladys Night, aren't they?

(Don't know how pineapples procreate..sorry)

I believe you chop the top off, the bit with the leaves, and plant it. How this is down without human interference I don't know.
Wz

That is just another job the elves perform.

If untouched by human hand don't they send out suckers like strawberries?

Strawberries send out suckers?? Why..wha'..why??????

I used to like strawbs but now they've taken on a more scary edge!

In penance for my flippant answer I did a bit of research, and it turns out that pineapples do have pips - only that commercial ones aren't polinated so the pips don't develop.

A pineapple, it seems, is a compound fruit in that all the flowers join up to make the one fruit. In the wild the pineapple is pollinated by hummingbirds so to keep this from happening the farmer puts a clear plastic bag over the flower head.

HTH,
<>====uuu====<

Is the pineapple in anyway related to an apple or is it just cosmic co-incidence?

No - I think people got all confused when they first appeared.
They are, in fact, some kind of cactus like plant...

I heard from a very unreliable source that bananas were not actually a fruit but a spice due to the fact that it contains no seeds.

Can anyone confirm with extreme accuracy that my chain has been yanked


sorry for the tangent

This http://www.h2g2.com/A394021 says they're herbs.
.

I have also been party to the bananas are herbs discussion. Something to do with the way the plant grows. It certainly is not a tree.

So did you also know that strawberries are in fact nuts? There are several clinics around the world dedicated to the mental problems of strawberries. And sadly there still hasn´t been produced straight jackets in their size, so it is a big problem keeping them from hurting themselves. Actually many strawberries have been killed when the helpers have tried to strap them to the bed with leather straps.

The problems of restraining strawberries are nothing compared with the problem of making pineapple jelly. It just won't happen. Pineapples contain an enzyme which neutralises gelatine, as I discovered to my embarassement when I had to serve sponge, fruit salad, strawberry syrup, custard and cream, instead of trifle.

Pineapples also contain an enzyme which degrades connective tissue holding flesh together. This is why it is useful for tenderising meat. It is also why all your teeth will fall out if you eat too many of them.

Probably the same enzyme acting on the same stuff. Nasty about the teeth, though.

True, gelatine was originally made of connective tissue, by boiling carcases, to alter the structure of the collagen, -like in glue manufacturing. Probably isn't any more, I hope. The enzyme in pineapples is a collagenase and degredes the collagen.