What connects Gdansk with a pineapple?
First of all, and this might surprise some, a pineapple is not a fruit but rather a fruiting body—each "scale" is a small fruit fused into a large, symmetrical cluster. We owe our acquaintance with this South American sweet treat to the explorers of the New World, who were so delighted with its taste that they decided to bring it to the Old Continent. Unfortunately, the long journey ruined their plans—the fruits would spoil on the way. The only hope lay in bringing pineapple seedlings to Europe and attempting to grow them. This was only successfully achieved a century later, in the Netherlands, in a heated greenhouse. These first pineapples grown in Europe were like paradise fruits—rare, novel, and highly coveted. Consequently, they quickly became an expensive luxury item.
Displaying a pineapple as a table decoration was a clear signal of the host's wealth. Ambitious hosts with a smaller budget could rent a pineapple, with the condition of returning it in perfect state. Such a fruit would “attend” multiple parties as long as it remained intact. Indeed, there were fruits in history that led richer social lives than some of us... Of course, the ultimate luxury was eating the fruit itself, which was served raw or transformed into desserts like the very fashionable ice creams and sorbets.
But if we're talking about something extraordinary and luxurious, Gdansk couldn’t miss out. Pineapples were also cultivated here, and even poems were written about them! The first person to successfully grow one was the naturalist Jacob Theodor Klein, who achieved this around 1720 in his private botanical garden on Długie Ogrody. In 1733, Johann Philipp Breyne followed suit in his garden on Brabank by the Motława River. Growing a pineapple was a significant achievement, and the fruit itself sparked such fascination and interest that Breyne’s daughter, the poet Anna Renata, was inspired to write a short piece about this remarkable natural wonder. The pineapple became wildly fashionable, so it’s no surprise that not long after, pineapple seedlings could be purchased in Gdansk for home cultivation. They adorned conservatories and terraces, and their fruits became a source of pride for hosts and gardeners alike. Today, due to its widespread availability, the pineapple no longer holds the high-class status it once did, but it undoubtedly retains its party-ready aura.
Displaying a pineapple as a table decoration was a clear signal of the host's wealth. Ambitious hosts with a smaller budget could rent a pineapple, with the condition of returning it in perfect state. Such a fruit would “attend” multiple parties as long as it remained intact. Indeed, there were fruits in history that led richer social lives than some of us... Of course, the ultimate luxury was eating the fruit itself, which was served raw or transformed into desserts like the very fashionable ice creams and sorbets.
But if we're talking about something extraordinary and luxurious, Gdansk couldn’t miss out. Pineapples were also cultivated here, and even poems were written about them! The first person to successfully grow one was the naturalist Jacob Theodor Klein, who achieved this around 1720 in his private botanical garden on Długie Ogrody. In 1733, Johann Philipp Breyne followed suit in his garden on Brabank by the Motława River. Growing a pineapple was a significant achievement, and the fruit itself sparked such fascination and interest that Breyne’s daughter, the poet Anna Renata, was inspired to write a short piece about this remarkable natural wonder. The pineapple became wildly fashionable, so it’s no surprise that not long after, pineapple seedlings could be purchased in Gdansk for home cultivation. They adorned conservatories and terraces, and their fruits became a source of pride for hosts and gardeners alike. Today, due to its widespread availability, the pineapple no longer holds the high-class status it once did, but it undoubtedly retains its party-ready aura.