Pina for miles…literally. We went to the Corsicana Pina farm today for a day trip and it was amazing. There is couple here staying with us on the last three days of their honeymoon and it was a great surprise to the kids. Jordan and Ellen are two very special people in our lives. Jordan is like a big brother to Beck and when they booked their honeymoon to Costa Rica and asked if we could surprise the kids with a visit we said OK not knowing what state we would be in. It was a great thing for them to show up yesterday. Here is a clip of the surprise:
Ellen’s dad went to school with Mr McNutt and they just so happen to run the largest organic pineapple farm in the world here in Costa Rica. It is 3200 acres of PINA, that is 5 square miles of pina. We got a private tour from Maikil (Michael) and he was awesome, funny funny guy. He would ask you a question then when you answered he would say great job, then pause and say “NO”. He took us out into the fields on a huge tractor buggy thing and we learned how to pick pineapple the correct way. And by the way, you are doing it wrong. I was. We were taken back into the conveyer room and packaging where they refrigerate for four hours to stop the fermentation process. Then they load up in trucks and ship to you. Yep, this farm produces 70% of their crop for Whole Foods. After our Pina lesson we were treated to lunch and a visit by the managing director. This place is amazing in the way they care for their people. Friday nights they cook dinner for employees but they cook up enough for each employee to take food home for their families. Who does that? So good. I loved listening to Mikail talk about how much he loved his work and his employer.
The farm is a fair trade partner which means that they sell organic pina and for a premium price and you give back to the community. Denny, the director, took us over to a school they built with the funds from the sales of the pineapple. The coolest thing is the company didn’t build the school; it was the workers. The funds from the fair trade deal go to a committee of the 300 worker families and they decided to spend a portion of the funds on a school so kids and adults could learn and improve their lives. Today was a great day. I felt so encouraged to walk through that place and know that products that we Americans are buying could do so much good. How could something that tastes so good do so much.
Very good day! Oh, and pineapple picked from a field and cut open by a guy with a machete is hard to beat. or as Beck said “Pina is awesome!”
OK so not going to let you go before we share what we learned. Here is how you pick a good pina: Look for “big eyes” the eyes are the octagonal shapes on the sides. Bigger is better. Symmetrical as well. Plus you want a little golden on the bottom. So stop smelling them, stop plucking leaves, and stop squeezing them too.