Piñas

I think that the pineapple for Costa Rica, in terms of consumption, can be compared to the strawberry for the States.  It is eaten  raw most of the time when the whole fruit is eaten.  Additionally, however, it is in jellies and desserts and juices.  Candies and other flavored snacks are sold with a pineapple flavoring. This is similar to our treatment of the strawberry.  My family eats pineapple primarily as the raw fruit for breakfast. Almost every day I have a big pile of pineapple. 

My family said that there used to be more white pineapple sold here, but now there is pretty much only one kind.  Or at least that they couldn't distinguish between different kinds.  

Pineapple is a very important export crop in Costa Rica. Costa Rica is the third largest exporter of pineapple in the world. Just like with bananas, the best of the best gets exported and the second best (or maybe even third or fourth best) stays here for sale. My mom talked about that a lot, but since she loves pineapple she says she couldn't imagine how the best of the best would taste since what they have here is so good. 

My mom also talked about the cultivation of the pineapple here. Just like bananas, pineapples are mostly cultivated by Nicaraguans (I wasn't sure if that was just a stereotype, so I googled it and it said that 60% of pineapple workers are Nicaraguan). My family does not have any prejudice against Nicaraguans because my tico dad's best friend in colegio was a Nicaraguan immigrant. Hearing about who cultivates the pineapples, however, made me wonder if there are any of the same connotations to pineapples as there are for bananas. My tica mom seemed to think that there was some prejudice but that it mostly just came from prejudice against Nicaraguans in general and didn't impact the pineapple industry. She did say that pineapple workers are not paid very much. Beyond the vaguely racial connotations, my tica mom did not think the pineapple symbolized much of anything. She said its value lay in its export value. 

Pineapple juice served with our dinner.  

Piña Colada with a slice of fresh pineapple on the side. 

Pineapples are very commonly used as flavoring here in Costa Rica. This means that it is in juices and cookies and candies and jellies. In the US, we mainly eat our pineapple raw and then it is a special treat because it is exotic and expensive.