Life in China can be confusing for pineapple lovers. You learn the word pineapple in Chinese – boluo (菠萝), and after mastering the correct tones you go to the shop only to hear, “We have only fengli (凤梨), not boluo“. Next time you are prepared and 100% confident, but when you point at the fruit with your finger and ask the shopkeeper “One fengli please”, their answer is “What? Are you blind, it’s boluo, we don’t keep here any fengli“. I’m tired of those awkward situations, so let’s find the difference between Chinese pineapples.

As we all know, pineapple is the tropical fruit from South America. After the discovery of the New World, Europeans were excited about pineapples, but it was very difficult to keep the fruits fresh while transporting them across the Atlantic ocean. European monarchs were trying to recreate the tropical climate in special hothouses, but it was really expensive and not efficient. Even Catherine the Great tried to grow pineapples in Russia, probably to prove that the Russian character is stronger than common sense. 

The cost of pineapples was huge, and Europeans tried to find a substitute, for example, jam and candies made of pineapples. But only since the end of the 19th century, the mass production of pineapples became real. The pioneer of modern pineapple making was James Dole who cultivated pineapples in Oahu, Hawaii. Nowadays, thanks to agriculture technologies and transportation, pineapples are quite cheap and accessible.

In China, the industrial cultivation of pineapples started in the 20th century. While for American firms Hawaii was the best spot for pineapple making, the Japanese covered Taiwan with the plantations. Their activities were successful, so in the 1930s Japan became number 3 in the world pineapple production.

So what about two names for the same fruit in the Chinese language? According to biological classification, in Chinese fengli (凤梨) is a genus (ananas)，and boluo (菠萝) is species (pineapple). But in reality, nobody cares about the problems of scientific terminology in the daily life, so there is another clear distinction, blessed be Chinese users of Zhihu.

• Boluo has long pointy leaves, and fengli‘s ones are short and tough.
• The color of boluo skin is brownish yellow, and the color of fengli is deep green.
• There are spikes behind the boluo skin, so it is necessary to carefully take them out. Fengli has no spikes inside.

Generally speaking, fengli is more sweet, watery, and expensive. And if you live in China, you can ask shopkeepers to cut the fruits for you – they have a special tool for it called boluo jia (菠萝夹).

So finally we have solved the mystery of Chinese pineapples. Enjoy real fruits, avoid fake ones, and stay hydrated!