Pineapple Mania

Christopher Columbus was one of the first Europeans to see pineapples when he reached the West Indies but the first fruit did not reach England until the 17th Century. In 1721 it was still headline news when a ship arrived from the West Indies with a large quantity of pineapples. The fruit was presented to the Royal Family and 'other persons of quality and distinction'.

Pineapples became the must-have status symbol for the very wealthy. By the 1770s 'no garden is now thought complete without a stove [hothouse] for raising of pine-apples'.

The Dutch had already perfected ways of cultivating pineapples in glasshouses and several English gardeners were sent there to learn their methods and enable owners of the great estates to have freshly grown fruit. Individual pineapple plants in pots, such as the one shown left, were set in pits with manure over pebbles at the base topped with oak chippings soaked in water (tanners' bark) providing warmth for the plants in addition to warm air circulated in glasshouses known as pineries.

Such was the popularity of pineapples that inns and confectioners adopted the name 'Pineapple' cashing in on the fruit's desirability. Designs on finials, wallpaper, teapots and even court dress reflected its status as the 'king of fruits'.

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