ZAP’S FACTS!
FRUIT

A pineapple takes about two years to grow.

Each pineapple is made of dozens of tiny fruits fused together - and the plant only produces one fruit at a time.

2 min read
A pineapple takes about two years to grow.
THE FULL STORY

A pineapple plant is a low, spiky bush with stiff sword-shaped leaves. After about a year of growing, it sends up a single stalk topped with a cluster of small purple-red flowers. Each flower produces a tiny fruit, and all of those tiny fruits fuse together into the bumpy pineapple shape we know.

That’s why the surface of a pineapple looks like a pattern of scales. Each scale is one of those merged-together baby fruits. A single pineapple can be made of around 100 to 200 of them, all stuck side by side around a central core.

From planting to picking takes roughly 18 to 24 months - and the plant only gives you one pineapple. After harvest, the plant can be coaxed to grow a second, smaller fruit a year later. So next time you eat one, remember: somebody waited two years for that snack.

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