Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Ruby Tuesday: red pineapple


Here's a beautiful native Philippine red pineapple I stumbled at the forest in Tayabas. In 2007, Philippines was the second in the world production of pineapple at 233 metric tons. Costa Rica was number 1, and Cote d'Ivoire came third. Aside from puree, juice concentrates, canned products, dried and fruit cocktail, native Philippine red pineapple is also an excellent source of pina fiber.

But do you know how the pineapple got a skin covering that resembles a human eye?

There's a myth that most Filipino children must have heard while seated at her or his grandmother's lap. It started with a farm girl named Pina who lived with her mom as tenants in a fruit plantation. Her mom was the hard-working type, and Pina was also hard-working---but not with the household chores. She loved playing all the time. The myth goes on to say that the mother, used to being too vocal with her careless ill wishes or curses on people who didn't delight her, was liberal on such habit on her daughter, Pina.

One day, the myth says, Pina’s procrastinations went too far for her mom to tolerate them anymore. The mother told Pina to get her wooden shoes from the under their hut. Pina went down their hut and looked under it. But on seeing her old rag doll, Pina's imagination started working. She was soon playing with the doll and forgot all about her task. Her usual dialogue of “I didn't see it,” when actually she wasn’t searching but playing, did it this time. Her mom shouted invectives at her and a curse---“May you grow dozens of eyes!” so Pina would stop mentioning her favorite dialogue. Then suddenly, Pina disappeared.

A search party looked all over the plantation for Pina but they couldn't find her. Then Pina’s mom saw a curious new plant growing at their backyard. It was covered with eyes. She remembered her latest curse on Pina and knew the plant was her. From then on, she called the plant, a pineapple, or “Pinya” in Filipino.

The myth on the origin of pineapple aims at fostering obedience, and that parents ought to watch how they deal with their kids.

Posted for Ruby Tuesday


18 comments:

Napaboaniya.Elaine Ling said...

A beautiful capture of the red pineapple :)
I've never seen this before..really interesting!

Anonymous said...

Nice red pineapple, complementary colors looks nice. And interesting story. Thank you for sharing!

prkl, Finland

escape said...

wow! hinog na ba yan? ang nakakatuwa pa ay kumain din kami ng pinya kanina.

Unknown said...

hi, dong! it's a young pineapple. i think it turns green/yellow as it matures. first time ko rin nakakita ng red pineapple.:D

Gattina said...

Wow ! that looks beautiful ! I have never seen such a pineapple ! I didn't even know that it exists !

Dee & Dylan said...

Nice picture , love the colours. (:-)

Nell said...

A lovely choice for Ruby Tuesday. Great photo.

Robin said...

I've never heard of a red pineapple before - it looks great. Does it taste as good as it looks?

Fun story too. I love it when bloggers share these interesting little snippets of their culture, it really makes the photos come alive.

Anonymous said...

beautiful shot! & i have to say i miss the philippines..i love pineapples but never tried that red kind.

Anonymous said...

I miss pinya! We would always have them at home as gifts from friends who own a taniman hehe...ang ganda nga nyan kasi pula pa, I do remember that story! hehe

Anonymous said...

thanks for reminding us of this myth:) perfect red and green capture:)

Mojo said...

Great choice for mixing the red and green on this different kind of R/T. Do the leaves really grow that color? Fascinating.

So is the story. I'd never heard it before.

Connie T. said...

This is perfect for this Ruby Tuesday. I like it.

Tink *~*~* said...

I had no idea there was such a thing as a red pineapple - thanks for sharing!

Happy TUESDAY,
Tink *~*~*

Now Playing at My Mobile Adventures *~*~* :
Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade - Red Edition!

Anonymous said...

Very good choice for this week RT; it's green and red and ... beautiful. Well-done!

Jientje said...

Beautiful!! I've never seen one before!

fortuitous faery said...

i loved that story as a child. lots of interesting legends we have, actually. i've never seen a pineapple that red! :)

Linda said...

Fascinating legend. And I've only ever seen a pineapple in a supermarket, and long way from 'home', so to see one like this is a revelation.