Sunday Times 2
Coconut-flavoured pineapple
View(s):Australia’s Dept. of Agriculture announces it is in final stages of developing the revolutionary fruit they have been working on for the past decade
By Damien Gayle
Cocktail lovers rejoice! Australian researchers have developed what could be the ultimate ingredient for the piña colada of the future. In what is thought to be a world first, they have developed a new breed of pineapple that is not only sweet and juicy but which has the added tropical taste of coconut. Australia’s Department of Agriculture today announced it is in the final stages of developing the new variety.
The agency’s research station in in Queensland has been working on the new breed, to be known as the AusFestival pineapple, for more than a decade.
‘Taste tests tell us that AusFestival is a winner – it has this lovely coconut flavour, which you won’t find in any other pineapple in Australia,’ horticulturalist Garth Senewski told the Australian Broadcast Corporation. ‘It’s sweet, low acid, very juicy,’ he said, adding that its unique taste should prove popular with customers.
The new breed of pineapple has the potential to revolutionise cocktail mixology.
Currently piña colada cocktails are made by shaking rum, cream of coconut and pineapple juice together with ice, before straining the resulting mixture into a goblet-type glass.
The AusFestival would do away with any need for coconut at all. Mr Senewski said the researchers did not initially intend to create a pineapple that tasted like coconut.
‘When we’re doing the breeding, we’re not actually looking for a coconut-flavoured pineapple or any other particular flavour,’ he told ABC.
‘We’re looking for a nice flavoured pineapple. We’re looking for a variety that is sweet, low acid and aromatic.’
The Department of Agriculture confirmed the development but said anyone hoping for a ‘pina colada’ pineapple will have to wait.
It will be two years before the first are planted commercially.
© Daily Mail, London
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