No, not my kids or DH, but I want to bring back 5 or 6 pineapples from Kauai next month. Should I just buy some from the supermarket/farmer's market and carry them on in a sturdy canvas bag, or go with the Dole-packed ones available at the airport? Big difference in price? Your recommendations wanted!

The last time I was there (just after the end of the Dark Ages) you could buy them from a vendor who would have them at the airport to check with your luggage. A case = 6 pineapples. If you are flying back to the DC area, please drag along a case for me! I'll meet you at the airport with a check!

sorry pollyvw, only going as far as the midwest! they must be pretty spectacular--yes?

OCASSIONALLY...I repeat...OCASSIONALLY, I find some on the east coast that are reminiscent of what you can get there! They are truly melt in your mouth!

Buy them their own seat.

Just kidding. How about going to a Mailboxes Etc. place and shipping them home?

Well, I don't carry on much, so this wouldn't be a big problem. Just trying to determine how cost effective it would be versus airport direct packaging. I'm guessing them pineapples would be expensive to fly! Anyone know?

http://www.mrpineapple.com/ to get an idea how much it costs to ship them. You can check one case of pineapple inaddition to your 2 pieces of luggage at Kahului airport. Not sure if this works the same from Lihue.

You do know that a pineapple is as ripe as it will ever get when you pick it, right? It does not ripen off the plant, so there is no such thing as picking it early to ripen in transit, as with other fruits. Although the outside of the fruit will start to turn yellow, the fruit itself is the same as it was the day it was picked. Fruit that is harvested in summer months will be sweeter than those in the winter months, but a Dole Hawaiian pineapple at the airport is really the same as the Hawaiian Dole pineapple on the mainland. Hawaiian pineapple arrive at your market two or three days after harvest--they are flown in, not shipped. Look for the "Jet Fresh" tag on the pineapple in your local market. Costa Rican and Honduran are tagged, no tag ususally means they are Mexican.

Also, if you buy them at the market here, read that tag! We had Mexican pineapples at Safeway recently--a huge display of them for $.99 a pound. They had some local pineapple in another location for twice that price. Produce is shipped from wharehouses on the mainland, and that often includes produce that we grow locally because they can sell Mexican and south American produce at a lower price and for a greater markup, even after you add in the cost of freight. I see Mexican and central American avocaodos, mangoes, papayas and tomatoes much more than I see local gorwn items at the Costco and Safeway. This is why I shop at farmer's markets for my local produce.

I bought mine at the Honolulu airport last summer. The girl recommended getting Dole Gold, saying they were sweeter. Then you just send them through with your checked luggage. In fact, some people bought pineapples after going through check in; and the gate people asked them to bring them up to go on board with the luggage rather than carrying them on the plane.

distribute weight evenly
point green tops to the wind
insert straw for a refreshing treat while experiencing turbulence
carry a parachute just in case

Is Dole still doing business on the islands?

We got a phone number from the dole plantation to call and the box of pineapples was waiting for us at the airport. we checked our luggage but carried on the fruit just so it wouldn't get beat up. We were not very impressed with them, they tasted good, but they tasted exactly the same as what I buy at the grocery here in Tennessee.

Castle & Cooke = Dole

I had read somewhere that there was a local Hawaiian variety that was even better than your 'standard' pineapple--that was what i was looking to bring back--yes?