A 1925 Ad For Pineapple Recipes Received Over 60-Thousand Responses – 2500 For Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes

Tropical fruit makes everything more special, including cake. Add a buttery caramel sauce, tuck bright rings of pineapple into it, and then flip the whole thing over like a magic trick, and dessert suddenly feels like a party.

National Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Day celebrates that cheerful combination of tangy fruit, brown sugar gloss, and old-school baking flair that looks far fancier than it actually is.

• 1398 – The word “pineapple” in English was first recorded in 1398, when it was originally used to describe the reproductive organs of conifer trees (now termed pine cones).
• 1658 – The first pineapple to be successfully cultivated in Europe, is said to have been grown by Pieter de la Court at Meerburg in 1658.
• 17th Century – European and early American cooks bake fruit and sugar in heavy skillets, then invert the cakes to serve, creating precursors to modern upside-down cakes using apples, cherries, and other seasonal fruit.
• 19th Century – The term ‘upside down cake’ wasn’t used very much before the middle of the 19th century, but the baking style probably dates back much further, to the Middle Ages.
• 1800s – Pineapple, “halakahiki” in Hawaiian, meaning foreign fruit, has been grown in Hawaii since the early 1800’s.
• 1886 – The first commercially grown pineapple crop is established in Hawaii — Hawaii continues to be a mass producer of pineapples supplying much of the U.S.
• 1901 – The classic American ‘Pineapple Upside Down Cake’ dates to sometime after 1901, when Jim Dole invented canned pineapple.
• 1911 – The Hawaiian Pineapple Company adopts a machine that cores and cuts pineapple into uniform rings, creating the iconic slices that later define the look and structure of pineapple upside-down cake.
• 1925 – The Hawaiian Pineapple Co. (now Dole Pineapple) held a pineapple recipe contest in 1925, with judges from Fannie Farmer’s School, Good Housekeeping and McCall’s magazine on the judging panel. The 100 winning recipes would be published in a cookbook the following year.
  • Over 60,000 submissions were entered. Of those, 2,500 recipes were for pineapple upside-down cake alone!
  • Mrs. Robert Davis, from Norfolk, Virginia, wins a contest sponsored by the Hawaiian Pineapple Company hoping to find new, creative pineapple recipes.
• 1920s – American cookbooks and women’s magazines begin publishing recipes specifically labeled “pineapple upside-down cake,” shifting the dish from a regional skillet dessert to a widely recognized American classic.
• 1930 – The first mention in print of Pineapple Upside Down cake was in 1930, and was listed in the 1936 Sears Roebuck catalog.
• 1959 – Hawaii becomes the 50th U.S. state, reinforcing pineapple’s association with Hawaiian identity and hospitality and further embedding pineapple-based dishes such as pineapple upside-down cake in American popular culture.
• 1990s – As interest in mid-century American food returns, chefs and home bakers revisit “retro” desserts, updating pineapple upside-down cake with fresh pineapple, artisanal cherries, and cast-iron skillets while preserving its classic inverted presentation.
• Early recipes for fruit upside-down cakes were made in cast-iron skillets on top of the stove.
• Upside-down cakes themselves were not invented for pineapple. The general concept of baking a cake with a topping on the bottom and then flipping it out of the pan has a long lineage.
• The Spanish explorers thought pineapples looked like pinecones, so they called them “Pina.” The English added “apple” to associate it with juicy, delectable fruits.
• Caribbean Indians placed pineapples or pineapple crowns outside the entrances of their homes to symbolize friendship and hospitality.
• Raw pineapple is an excellent source of manganese (76% daily value) in a one US cup serving) and vitamin C (131% DV per cup serving).
• Unripe pineapples don’t just taste vile; they can also be quite poisonous. Eating it causes serious throat irritation and it has a strong laxative effect.
• Traditionally, pineapple juice was used as a diuretic and to induce labor.
• The Bromelain enzyme in pineapples breaks down proteins. This means that you can use pineapple or pineapple juice as a meat tenderizer.
• Annually, just under 28 million tons of pineapples are produced all over the world with the greatest production serving the U.S. coming from Costa Rica.
• Raw pineapple pulp is 86% water.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Foodimentary

Mobile-Cuisine

Kitchen Project

Jamie Geller

National Today

Days of the Year