Dean,there are many pineapple postings on this GW site that you can refer back too.Most have questions like yours.Also,info is available on this website www.fcbs.org I've seen your plant at Home Depot,and if its the plain green variety,its likely Ananas comosus.I would guess that the fruit is not going to get much larger,as it is likely a nursery grown plant,and has'nt the robustness or size of one grown outdoors in full sunlight. Pineapples need water and nutrients,and they can only be absorbed thru the roots,so the soil should not dry out,but not become soggy.If you can,place the plant outdoors in the Summer,and it will improve with daily sunlight. Meanwhile,water and feed it as you would a houseplant. Perhaps others will add some more information for you here too. Bob

I had some of the ice cream with my lunch today, and the ice cream was quite hard, and so perhaps I did not add enough rum or Grand Marnier. Tastewise, I don't think it needed more rum, and in fact the flavors were very balanced - not too sweet and not too tart. Because I used the strawberry juice, it came out like strawberry ice cream with tiny pineapple chunks, and it does look pretty - pink with yellow polka dots. I wish I had made a pure pineapple flavor, but as a combination flavor it is still very good, but I would prefer to taste the pineapple more intensely. I might make a similar recipe and use pineapple juice/syrup instead of strawberry juice, but if I use the juice, I think I would have to cook it a bit with some sugar, and I would have to do that by taste. I might just break down and use canned pineapple - that would save much of the work, and I think it tastes okay - especially in ice cream. The fresh pineapple does bring back memories of Mexico, however. Lars

Well, I used "low acid" orange juice and it hardly had ANY flavor. It turned out pretty good but it was weird because the dried pineapple had NO flavor. So what I did was marinate the thighs and breasts in a mix of onion, garlic, chopped dried pineapple and low acid orange juice, with ginger and cumin for spices. Then I sauteed the meat briefly and put it in the dutch oven with the marinade, fruit, carrots and baked it at 400 for 45 min. I put the chicken breast tenders in halfway through the baking time, when I also added some cabbage and sauteed green peppers. When everything was cooked I reduced the pan juices to serve as a sauce. You could not taste any pineapple taste when you ate the dried pineapple. It was sweet, but not very sour. Oh, and my folks had some rum which I added a dash to the marinade. My dad liked it, because he said he likes sweet things. Sadly, the whole meal lacked salt as far as I was concerned. I salted everything but not enough for my taste, it was rather bland. I should have added some cider vinegar to the marinade. I had actual cider with dinner and it was the strongest tasting thing on the menu! Oh and we had sweet corn which I have not had very much of this year. That was delish. I'm editing to add that I still have half a bag of the dried pineapple left so I'm open to suggestions. I thought about getting pineapple juice for the marinade but I hardly ever use fruit juice so I know the little cans of pineapple juice would sit around forever. I thought the pineapple might flavor up the blandish low acid orange juice but that was a bust. I think next time I need to do what Ruthanna said and make a stir fry sauce from the dried pineapple and thicken it with cornstarch and use in a stir fry. This post was edited by lpinkmountain on Sun, Sep 28, 14 at 22:15

Angelaid, I see no reason to ridicule azzalea for this comment. Her remarks are based on fact. Like many such legends, it is based on reality. In this example, a great deal of reality. Papain or bromelain are the enzymes found in meat tenderizers. Papain is found in papayas and bromelain is found...guess where....pineapples. Both can cause esophogeal and stomach problems for sensitive people and for anyone who may gobble too much at a time. Anyone with any hint of ulcers needs to stay away from these enzymes, whether in a commercial tenderizer or in a raw food. Any one planning abdominal surgery needs to avoid them also. Any doctor will tell you that. She is also correct that it is only the raw food that causes these problems. Cooking or marinating counteracts the powerful dissolving enzymes.