Piña, Pineapple, Ananas

The past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions, packed with get togethers and outings to the max. We know we only have 3 more weeks in Costa Rica and we are determined to make the most out of it, like getting together with friends, visiting places we hadn't visited yet -'cause you know we want to cross out every single item from our Costa Rica travel bucket list, enjoy delicious tropical fruits and more.

Speaking of delicious fresh tropical fruit, it never occurred to me that one can become a fruit snob, seriously it didn't... that is until last week when I bought two "golden" pineapples. I was shopping at my local fruit stand and browsing to see what fruits they had in stock, choosing the most delicious ones {mangos, star fruit, soursop, passion fruit, water apple, etc} because I am sure I won't find them this fresh when we move back home or this affordable.... anywho I was looking at the pineapples which were larger than usual, mostly longer and narrower and definitely all green that is when I noticed these weren't the ones I'd bought before so I had to ask if these were different.

Excitedly the girl at the stand said these were better because they were the export quality and were called golden pineapples aka piña dorada de exportacion, yes they were pretty to look at but not as fragrant as the ones I've bought before nor were they yellowish. I was told that these are perfect as soon as they are cropped and that I didn't have to wait for it to be yellowish because most likely they wouldn't. 

At a $1.00 USD each I decided I would buy 2, so we could enjoy cut into bite size squares or in our smoothies. As soon as we were home I placed them on the counter and waited 2 days just in case. I was surprised that not much changed in those 2 days and I was being a little too anxious to enjoy some pineapple as an afternoon snack. I cut it open and the texture was a bit different than the other, this was was firm and held it's shape even after chopping it, it was fragrant but it wasn't as sweet or as inviting as the other one.

....and I was right.

Even if it was of export quality, in my opinion it didn't do Costa Rican pineapples justice. Local pineapples as in the ones that are kept in Costa Rica have a texture so juicy that as you are cutting it the juices run, the scent is so sweet that you just want and must take a bite immediately. After eating this juicy local pineapple you are obsessed with it, its flavor and texture and anything else that may look or resemble to it can't compare to it. In fact just talking about it makes me want to run to the local fruit stand and buy some and today is my lucky day because today they are 3 for $2.00 USD...