An occasional pineapple has many benefits

Ever wonder about a pineapple?

There is no other fruit that even resembles this odd-shaped, lopsided sphere with spikes. One pineapple is a combination of dozens of individual flowerets to form the entire fruit.

An important fact about this unusual fruit is it is a nonclimacteric fruit. It does not ripen after picking. There is no way to ripen a pineapple that is picked before its prime. When selecting a whole, fresh pineapple, choose a heavy, solid fruit that has dark-green spikes. It will smell sweet at the base. The spikes can be plucked out without much effort. Don’t eat unripe fruit.

Archaeological evidence reveals pineapple has been found as far back as 1,200-800 B.C. in South America. It was widely distributed and became a staple food of Native Americans.