The Harbor Hills Pineapple

The pineapple has served as both a food and a symbol throughout the human history of the Americas. The fruit was a culinary favorite of the fierce Carib Indians who lived on islands in the sea that still bears their name. The first encounter between a European and a pineapple occurred in November, 1493, by Christopher Columbus. The Renaissance Europe to which Columbus returned with his discoveries was a civilization largely bereft of common sweets. In such a gastronomic milieu, reports and later samples of the New World's pineapple--whose ripe yellow pulp literally filled with natural sweetness when chewed--made the fruit an item of celebrity and curiosity for royal gourmet and horticulturist alike.

In Colonial America the rare pineapple was dubbed King of Colonial fruits. Its rarity, expense, reputation and striking visual attractiveness made it the ultimate exotic fruit. In larger, well-to-do homes, dinner guests were confronted with pineapple-topped food displays whom felt particularly honored by a hostess who obviously spared no expense to ensure her guests' dining pleasure.

Several hundred years later a new variety of pineapple known as the Bradley was brought to a region of Central Florida where it was planted a top plush rolling hills overlooking a beautiful 9500 hundred acre lake. In its new unique and picturesque surroundings the Bradley thrived. Its awe inspiring beauty exploded with never tasted before sweetness.

Traveling from Christopher Columbus to Renaissance Europe, to Colonial America; today, the Bradley, renamed after the community which it thrives, is still produced in small batches and is served in larger well-to-do homes to guests whom feel particularly honored by a hostess who obviously spares no expense to ensure her guests� dining pleasure.