► There are more than a hundred varieties of pineapples that grow in varying sizes.
► The plant is indigenous to South America and is said to originate from the area between southern Brazil and Paraguay.
► The natives of southern Brazil and Paraguay spread the pineapple throughout South America, and it eventually reached the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico, where it was cultivated by the Mayas and the Aztecs.
► Explorer Christopher Columbus in 1493 found pineapples on Guadeloupe Island in the Caribbean. He called it piña de Indes, meaning “pine of the Indians”, and brought it back with him to Spain.
► Today, the majority of the world’s pineapples come from Southeast Asia.
► Pineapple plants have beautiful flowers which can vary from lavender, through light purple to red.
When creating its fruit, it usually produces up to 200 flowers, although some large-fruited cultivars can exceed this.
► Once it flowers, the individual fruit of the flowers joins together to create what is commonly referred to as a pineapple. So the pineapple fruit itself is actually a bunch of “fruitlets” fused together.
► There are 50 calories in 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of a fresh pineapple.
    ► The pineapple is made up of mostly water (86%) and carbohydrates (13%), with almost no fat or protein.