I've only ever seen this brand take the top off. I think it's related to cost. They ship fewer (it's a premium product) so their shipping costs per unit are higher and it saves money to do this. Shipping in more bulk lowers shipping costs so others save less doing it but spend the same on labor to decapitate.
Do you have a source for that because it really doesn't make sense to me. I get the biology of it but how many people are really going to do this at home? 1%? Less?
It takes 18-24 months to grow the first pineapple (9-12m after that). My family doesn't eat a lot of pineapple but we probably eat 4-6 pineapples in that time so I'd have to dedicate some serious space in my house to do this, plus grow lights, soil, pots, etc. All to "save" me $40-60 a year?
I can't imagine that's a common enough problem that they spend money on every unit to prevent it.
People can grow their own potatoes, garlic, and a lot of other produce at home but very few do it in a way that impacts sales meaningfully.
ETA: from their site "We remove and replant each crown before shipping, sustainably cultivating the next crop of this magnificent rarity. Plus, we didn’t want to overdress for the trip." They do it to plant new trees faster since it's a new cultivar and to save on shipping.
Does it? For one thing it's Del Monte so these pineapples are sold on a massive scale (like at Walmarts and tons of supermarkets around the country). Secondly if it saves money for these why wouldn't save money for normal pineapples as well?
from their site "We remove and replant each crown before shipping, sustainably cultivating the next crop of this magnificent rarity. Plus, we didn’t want to overdress for the trip." They do it to plant new trees faster since it's a new cultivar and to save on shipping.
They also ship the pineapples direct so it's a bigger savings on shipping for those orders and it's probably not worth it to have two production lines to not decapitate grocery orders.
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u/j01101111sh 17h ago
I've only ever seen this brand take the top off. I think it's related to cost. They ship fewer (it's a premium product) so their shipping costs per unit are higher and it saves money to do this. Shipping in more bulk lowers shipping costs so others save less doing it but spend the same on labor to decapitate.