Now That’s Good Fruit!

According to the Council of Agriculture (COA), people in Taiwan consume more than 300,000 metric tons of pineapple per year. Pineapples are also Taiwan’s leading export fruit and have become a symbol overseas for premium quality. In Japan, Taiwanese pineapples sell at ￥598–798 each (about NT$140–190), depending on size, while in Canada they retail at C$20 (about NT$440). Despite these prices, the juicy, refreshing fruit quickly sell out.

Given low-priced competition from major pine­apple exporters Costa Rica and the Philippines, the key to Taiwan pineapples’ success has been to win at the starting gate, by selective breeding of varieties.

photo by Chen Junyu, courtesy of Greenland Cooperative

World-beating varieties

The Chiayi Agricultural Experiment Station of the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, under the COA, is home to Taiwan’s biggest facility for developing improved pineapple cultivars and farming methods. On three hectares of land, the station maintains a collection of 90 pineapple varieties from home and abroad that serve as breeding stock.

Associate horticulturist Kuan Ching-san, who has been working with pineapples for 26 years, says the history of the global spread of pineapples can be traced back to Christopher Columbus. The fruit made its way from South America to Taiwan, where it became firmly established. Taiwan’s so-called “native pineapples,” local varieties that you can still eat today, were introduced from the late 17th century onward. The older generation have the following memories of eating pineapples: The fruit made their tongues tingle, so before eating pine­apple they would first put salt on it. Moreover, there were prickly “eyes” beneath the rind that were cut out after peeling, leaving spiral grooves on the fruit. The thought of eating sour pineapples that also burn the tongue is enough to make one wince.

Because the native pineapples were small with deep eyes, during the colonial era the Japanese sought out vari­eties more suitable for canning. In 1925 they ­introduced the ‘Smooth Cayenne’ variety from Hawaii and the ‘Singa­pore Spanish’ variety, which they used to develop improved strains; and they used ‘Smooth Cayenne,’ with its large fruits, coarse fiber, and acidic flavor, for canning. At the peak of the industry in the 1970s, Taiwan even surpassed Hawaii as the world’s biggest producer of canned pineapples.

With the decline of the pineapple canning industry, since 1974 the Chiayi Agricultural Experiment Station has focused on breeding dessert varieties, creating Taiwan pineapples with their own unique characteristics. For example, Tainung No. 13 ‘Winter Honey’ is suited to harvesting in winter; No. 16 ‘Sweet Honey’ has a delicate texture; No. 19 ‘Honey Treasure’ is almost as sweet as sugar cane; No. 18 ‘Golden Osmanthus’ has a scent like osmanthus ­flowers; No. 21 ‘Golden’ has the flavor of Hami melon; and No. 22 ‘Honey Fragrance’ has a hint of coconut aroma. Tainung No. 17 ‘Golden Diamond,’ with a market share approaching 90%, has a fine texture and is sweet and juicy; it is currently the flagship variety for export.

Japan’s “Taiwan pineapple fever”

In response to a government policy to promote pineapple exports, most recently the goal of breeding has been to produce pineapples that stand up well to storage and transportation. Tainung No. 23 ‘Mango Pineapple’ combines the advantages of its parent varieties (No. 19 pollinated by No. 21) and has a mango fragrance. It can be stored and shipped for up to 21 days, making it possible to expand export markets from Japan and Korea to the US, Canada, and Australia.

Greenland Cooperative, in Ping­tung’s Gao­shu Township, is one of Taiwan’s biggest cooperatives growing pineapples for export, with some 140 ­hectares of land currently planted with this fruit. Aside from 20 hectares used to produce native pineapples for pineapple cake maker SunnyHills, 100 hectares is growing ‘Golden Diamond’ pineapples. Some of these are supplied to the PX Mart and Carrefour supermarket chains, but most are exported. Greenland’s sales to Japan in particular have continually expanded in recent years, from 1000 metric tons in 2020 to 2000 tons in 2021, with 2500 tons expected in 2022.

In March 2021, mainland China banned imports of Taiwanese pineapples. Thanks to cooperation between the government and fruit growers and marketers, orders were instead picked up from Japan, Hong Kong, and Singa­pore. Sales to Japan increased ninefold, to 18,000 tons.

The “Taiwan pineapple fever” that has swept Japan has not been driven just by Taiwanese firms and individuals based there. Japanese consumers are willing to spend ￥800 on a Taiwanese pineapple in part because of their grat­itude for Taiwan’s support following the earthquake and tsunami ten years ago, demonstrating the depth of friendship between Taiwan and Japan.

Greenland first exported pineapples to Canada in 2021. Because a shipping container can only hold 672 boxes of pineapples, Taiwan pineapples priced at C$20 each were snapped up by consumers as soon as they reached ­Toronto supermarkets.

Pineapples are currently Taiwan’s top export fruit by quantity.(photo by Jupiter Chang, courtesy of Greenland Cooperative)

More than just fruit

For fruit farmers, pineapples are not merely a product with a future. Most importantly, younger farmers can look after the older generation in their families and three generations can live together.

Greenland gives its farmers guidance in cultivation techniques. Because of increasing day–night temperature variations and stronger ultraviolet radiation, farmers have to protect their pineapples from sunlight. In the past the main way to do this was to put collars around the crown to shade the fruit. Today, for more effec­tive protection, during the intense summer heat begin­ning in May farmers place bags over the pineapples and also shade the fields with black netting. Meticulous techniques like this leave the major pineapple producing countries of Southeast Asia in the dust, and are another reason why Taiwan varieties stand out from the crowd.

Taiwan’s advanced biotechnology also helps pine­apples to be more than just fruit.

Chappion Biotechnology Company worked with an Israeli pharmaceuticals manufacturer to extract bro­melain from pineapple stems, to serve as an enzyme for debriding burn wounds by breaking down eschar. Their product has been approved for sale in 17 countries and approval in the US is pending. It can also be used to treat bedsores and chemical weapon injuries. Chappion executive vice president Lin Ifan states that the company is currently researching ways to extract small-molecule substances from pineapple flesh and leaves in order to make anti-­inflammatory food supplements, meaning that the entire plant can be utilized.

Under the fierce summer sun, the best way to beat the heat is by eating cool sweet–acid pineapple. There are also pineapple cakes from numerous makers, each with their own unique character, which make great gifts. The sweetly acid fruit filling, made using varieties from native pineapples to ‘Golden Diamond,’ in a soft or flaky pastry casing, is the most authentic local flavor of Taiwan.

Greenland Cooperative, led by Kuo Chih-wei, has relied on outstanding field management to build its position in the Japanese market. (photo by Jimmy Lin)