Field guide · Year-round (imported)

Pineapple

Most of what reaches a market like this is imported from much further afield — except on São Miguel, in the Azores, where pineapples have been grown in stone greenhouses since the nineteenth century, heated by manure and burning gorse, no two ever ripening on quite the same schedule. They're smaller than the imported kind and take over a year to ripen, slower and sweeter for it. Simplest thing to do with it: slice it plain, nothing added — it doesn't need the syrup treatment the tinned version taught everyone to expect.

Noted 2026-07-20