A fruit farmer was stunned after harvesting a mutant pineapple that looked like a bath sponge.
Josias de Lima Menini picked the bizarre-looking fruit on the family farm on Friday (22 December).
Measuring approximately 40 centimetres (16 inches) long and weighing 4.795 kilograms (11 pounds), the monstrous fruit was no normal pineapple.
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Snaps taken by the farmer show how it looks remarkably like a bath sponge.
According to Josias, others told him it looked like a piece of carpet.
He picked the fruit on his brother-in-law’s property in Córrego do Parado near Águia Branca, Brazil.
Its otherworldly appearance didn’t stop him from trying a piece.
He told local media: “God forbid, it was delicious!
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“It was sweet- I only took a piece because everyone wants me to cut it, but many people still want to see the fruit.”
Josias commented it tasted slightly different to a normal-shaped pineapple despite its bizarre appearance.
He said: “It was more crystallised, more fibrous indeed.
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“Not as sweet as the other fruits that were also harvested, but it was still very tasty.”
After his pictures were shared on social media, he was flooded with requests from curious netizens.
He added: “Some people are now asking for the top part, which is the crown, to plant a new one.
“I’m going to freeze it for others to see.”
Local plant pathologist José Aires Ventura believes the fruit’s baffling form arose from a genetic mutation.
He said: “It’s a fascination of the pineapple.
“This mutation is influenced by various factors, mainly temperature.
“With a very high temperature, it causes the proliferation of fruit crowns, which open up in a fan shape.”
It is not clear what variety of pineapple the mutant specimen belongs to, but the most common in this part of Brazil is Pérola and Smooth Cayenne.
“Pérola is more resistant”, while Smooth Cayenne “is more sensitive”, according to the expert, hinting that it may be the latter.
On the mutant fruit’s taste, he said: “It will just be more fibrous.
“The normal pineapple has only one crown.
“Instead of one, this one has dozens, and the crowns are all open.
“Besides, it doesn’t have sugar. But there’s no problem in eating it.”
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