Why do pineapples need to be soaked in salt water?

Pineapple is a fruit we often eat in summer. Pineapple is rich in vitamins and protein and is also popular with many people. Although everyone thinks that pineapple tastes sour, eating too much pineapple will make the tongue numb, so we need to soak the pineapple in salt water before eating it. This is why soaking the pineapple in salt water makes the pineapple feel neither numb nor sour. Why do we need to soak the pineapple in salt water?

Everyone knows that pineapples should be soaked in salt water before eating them, but most people only know that this is to reduce the sourness, but they don’t know that doing so is mainly to prevent pineapple allergies.

Pineapple is rich in carbohydrates, protein, and vitamin C, and has the effects of clearing away heat and relieving summer heat, promoting fluid production and quenching thirst, and promoting urination. However, pineapple also contains substances such as glycosides, bromelain and 5-hydroxytryptamine, which are irritating to the skin and oral mucosa.

Some people are born allergic to pineapples. They will experience abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, dizziness, and skin flushing 15 to 60 minutes after eating pineapples. In severe cases, they may suffer anaphylactic shock.

In this case, you must stop eating pineapples immediately and receive symptomatic treatment; those who experience anaphylactic shock (manifested by low blood pressure, profuse sweating, cold hands and feet, purple lips, rapid breathing, weak pulse, etc.) should be sent to the hospital for emergency treatment as soon as possible.

Eat pineapple raw? Peel off the pineapple skin, paying special attention to digging out the "nails" embedded in the flesh. Cut into slices or chunks and soak them in salt water for 30 minutes, then wash off the saltiness. This will eliminate allergic substances and make the pineapple taste sweeter.

In addition, it is not advisable to eat raw pineapple on an empty stomach, because the protease in pineapple can damage the stomach wall. Eating pineapple half an hour after a meal can help digestion.

Do you want to eat cooked pineapple? After peeling and dicing, cut into slices or chunks and cook in boiling water before eating. You can also make a variety of pineapple delicacies. Bromelain begins to denature at 45-50°C, and more than 90% is destroyed at 100°C; glycosides can also be destroyed and eliminated at the same time; serotonin is soluble in water.

Although we often eat pineapples, we don’t know the real reason why we need to soak pineapples in water before eating them. In fact, the reason why we need to soak pineapples in salt water is because pineapples themselves contain an allergic substance, which can easily cause allergies in our bodies after eating them. Soaking them in salt can kill the allergic substances in the pineapples, which is also good for the body.