Episode 168: Antler and Fin - Bear and Pineapple Burgers and the Interesting History of the Pineapple

Camping food is one of my favorites. I love a poorly roasted hot dog from a stick over the fire. Usually, the middle is not even warm and the ends are black.  Served over a cold bun and dressed in lukewarm Hormel chili with a little shredded cheddar cheese on top, maybe a few slivers of onion, and dinner is served.  I’m really not mocking it and am serious when I say I love that meal; however, I have also come to appreciate that camping food is also a great opportunity for switching things up a bit and trying out some new recipes. A little creative planning and some ingredient preparation can lead to some phenomenal camp meals. Some of the best fish dinners I have experienced were just foil-wrapped catch-of-the-day trout but paired with the simple addition of fresh rosemary or tarragon. The same goes for this pineapple and bear camp burger which is also very easy to make while camping. The sauce can be prepared at home, so there is no need to take mayonnaise, vinegar, and chipotle peppers on the camping trip. The patties could also be mixed, formed, and packed grill-ready in Ziploc bags and the pineapple comes conveniently canned.  The rest of the ingredients are easy to pack and quickly cook over the grill. A little imagination and preparation groundwork at home allows for a gourmet, restaurant-quality burger under the stars. Enjoy! Read the written version of this recipe as prepared by Lindsey Bartosh Rate this Podcast  Listen to our other podcasts here Buy our Small Batch Wild Food Spice Blends  About Pineapples Pineapples have played a surprising role in history as not only a food, but as a symbol. After hearing this podcast, you may start to notice pineapple symbolism in weird and curious places.  Let’s get into it.  To start off, let’s discuss what a pineapple actually is… I mean, we all know what one looks like, but where and how do they grow? Pineapples are in the bromeliad family and grow as a perennial small shrub with tough agave-like leaves, growing about 4 feet tall. Individual scarlet flowers, about 200 on an average plant, form small fruits, which fuse together to form a multiple fruit. That’s right, every pineapple you see is a collection of 200 individual fruits! Other examples of multiple fruits are figs, breadfruit, and mulberries. Though the main fruit is grown on a short, thick stem, suckers may grow, causing fruit to grow off the sides of the plant.  The wild pineapple originated not in Hawaii, but in Southern Brazil, near the current border with Paraguay. There, the Tupi peoples enjoyed the fruit, calling it nanas, or ‘excellent fruit’. The Tupi also used the pineapple to ferment a type of wine, create medicines, and even craft poison arrows.  Tupi and Carib peoples traded and raided, eventually spreading the fruit to the Amazon delta, up through Central America and into the Caribbean.   When our favourite guy, Christopher Colombus landed on current-day Guadeloupe in 1493 on his second voyage, he encountered pineapples growing and being eaten by the inhabitants of the island. He took some pineapples with him across the ocean after enslaving and brutalizing the natives there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices