I’m sure we’ve all experienced the tingling sensation felt sometimes from eating Pineapple, you know what I mean right? Usually on the roof of the mouth?
Well…on this occasion, for my Son and I, was an extremely severe tingling sensation! So intense that I am left with a burn to the corner of my lips over 3 days later and we both experienced soreness and redness immediately after eating. The roof of my mouth, not so much but the corners of my lips and the sides of my tongue…ouch, and bless my Boy, he has it around his mouth too and an odd line above his chin. Very strange indeed!
As mentioned I had experienced these tingling symptoms before when eating Pineapple so when I discovered this burning it got me thinking about why / how this time was different. What was it about this Pineapple that created such an intense reaction? The first thing that came into my mind was the ripeness of the fruit, it was very ripe, so initially i just put it down to this assuming more acid were present.
After studying my mouth and my Sons burns I decided I needed to research further what was going on. I browsed around the net until I found a site I felt I could trust. Here it mentioned the enzyme in Pineapple called Bromelain. This Plant Protease actually breaks down protein and immediately the connection made sense, it was indeed breaking my mouth down! In the same particular article it mentioned that the enzyme was more concentrated in the core of the fruit, usually I would cut this out but this time we ate the whole lot so this too added up.
Studies then continued to reveal the same thing, cut out the middle! Wash the cut Pineapple first. Even further research showed that the riper fruit the less acid it actually contains (gulp!) I cant imagine what my face would be like if it wasn’t so soft!
I must say we did over indulge in the amount consumed this time so this also had a roll to play here. Don’t eat copious amounts and eat it with other foods that can coat the tongue.
Wow, Pineapple really is one to watch out for!
Well Life’s about learning and oh yes Mamma learned the hard way…again…this will be the last time I’m attacked by a beasty Pineapple for sure!
a bionomic consciousness 