Christopher Columbus brought pineapple,
native of South America, back to Europe as one of the exotic prizes of the New
World. (‘Pineapple’ was given its
English name because of its resemblance to a pine cone.)
Pineapple (“halakahiki,” or foreign
hala,) long seen as Hawaiʻi’s signature fruit, was introduced to the Kingdom of
Hawai‘i in 1813 by Don Francisco de Paula Marin, a Spanish adviser to King
Kamehameha I.
Credit for the commercial production
of pineapples goes to the John Kidwell, an English Captain who started with
planting 4-5 acres in Mānoa.
Although sugar dominated the Hawaiian
economy, there was also great demand at the time for fresh Hawaiian pineapples
in San Francisco.
After Kidwell's initial planting,
others soon realized the potential of growing pineapples in Hawaii and
consequently, started their own pineapple plantations.
Here is some brief background
information on four of Hawai‘i’s larger pineapple producers, Dole, Libby, Del
Monte and Maui Land & Pineapple.
Ultimately, as part of an economic
survival plan, pineapple producers ended up in cooperative marketing programs
and marketed the idea of Hawaiian products, as in “Don’t ask for pineapples
alone. Insist on Hawaiian Pineapple!”
Dole Pineapple Plantation (Hawaiian
Pineapple Company)
James Dole, an American industrialist,
also famously called the Pineapple King, purchased 60 acres of land in the
central plains of Oahu Island and started the Hawaiian Pineapple Company in
1901.
In the year 1907, Dole started
successful ad campaigns that introduced whole of America to canned pineapples
from Hawaii.
In 1911, at the direction of Dole,
Henry Ginaca invented a machine that could automatically peel and core
pineapples (instead of the usual hand cutting,) making canned pineapple much
easier to produce.
The demand for canned pineapples grew
exponentially in the US and in 1922, a revolutionary period in the history of
Hawaiian pineapple; Dole bought most of the island of Lāna‘i and established a vast
200,000-acre pineapple plantation to meet the growing demands.
Lanai throughout the entire 20th
century produced more than 75% of world's total pineapple. More land on the island of Maui was purchased
by Dole.
In 1991, the Dole Cannery closed. Today, Dole Food Company, headquartered on
the continent, is a well-established name in the field of growing and packaging
food products such as pineapples, bananas, strawberries, grapes and many
others.
The Dole Plantation tourist
attraction, established in 1950 as a small fruit stand but greatly expanded in
1989 serves as a living museum and
historical archive of Dole and pineapple in Hawai‘i.
Libby, McNeil & Libby (Libby’s)
Libby’s, one of the world's leading
producers of canned foods, was created in 1868 when Archibald McNeill and
brothers Arthur and Charles Libby began selling beef packed in brine.
In the early 1900s it established a
pineapple canning subsidiary in Hawaiʻi and began to advertise its canned
produce using the ‘Libby’s’ brand name.
By 1911, Libby, McNeill & Libby
gained control of land in Kāne‘ohe and built the first large-scale cannery at
Kahalu‘u. This sizable cannery, together
with the surrounding old style plantation-type housing units, became known as
“Libbyville.”
The Kāne‘ohe facility ultimately
failed; some suggest it was because Libby built it on and destroyed the
Kukuiokane Heiau in Luluku.
In 1912 Libby, McNeill and Libby
bought half of the stock of Hawaiian Cannery Co. By the 1930s, more that 12 million cases of
pineapple were being produced in Hawaii every year; Libby accounted for 23 percent.
Del Monte Plantation
Del Monte another major food producing
and packaging company of America started its pineapple plantation with the
purchase of the Hawaiian Preservation Company in 1917. The company progressed and increased its
plantation areas during 1940s.
In 1997, the company introduced its
MD-2 variety, popularly known as Gold Extra Sweet pineapple, to the
market. The variety, though produced in
Costa Rica, was the result of extensive research done by the now dissolved
Pineapple Research Institute, in Hawaii. In 2008, Del Monte stopped its
pineapple plantation operations in Hawaii.
Maui Land & Pineapple Company
The family of Dwight Baldwin, a
missionary physician, created the evolving land and agricultural company. It first started as Haiku Fruit & Packing
Company in 1903 and Keahua Ranch Company in 1909, then Baldwin Packers in 1912.
In 1932, it was renamed Maui Pineapple
Company, which later merged with Baldwin Packers in 1962. In 1969, Maui Land & Pineapple Company,
Inc. (ML&P) was created and went public.
In 2005, the company introduced its
now famous "Maui Gold" variety, which is naturally sweet and has low
acid content. Maui Gold pineapple is
presently grown across 1,350 acres on the slopes of Haleakala.
Maui Land & Pineapple Company is
now a landholding company with approximately 22,000-acres on the island of Maui
on which it operates the Kapalua Resort community.
In 2009, the remnants of the 100-year
old pineapple operation were transferred to Maui Gold Pineapple Company
(created by former Maui Pineapple Company employees who were committed to
saving the 100-year tradition of pineapple on Maui.)
While the scale of pineapple farming
has dwindled, the celebration of pineapple lives on through Lāna‘i’s Pineapple
Festival. Starting in 1992, the event,
formerly known as the “Pineapple Jam,” honors the island’s pineapple
history. (June 30, 2012 will be the 20th
annual Pineapple Festival)
The image is the iconic Dole Cannery
pineapple 100,000-gallon water tank. Built in 1928, it was a Honolulu landmark
and reminder of pineapple’s role in Hawaiian agriculture until it was
demolished in 1993. (images via: A Pineapple Heart and Burl Burlingame,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
In addition, I have added other
pineapple related images into a folder of like name in the Photos section of my
Facebook page.
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