Meet the Ruby Glow Pineapple
This is a Ruby Glow pineapple, and it costs $400.
Not to be confused with the still-too-expensive $30 Pinkglow pineapple, which is actually pink on the inside and has been blowing up on social media.
A pink pineapple.
The Hermes of pineapples.
“This is so gorgeous. And guys, let’s be real. Pineapple is the best fruit, and now you’re telling me there’s an even better version of it? I have to try it.”
Both the Ruby Glow and Pinkglow pineapples are grown in Costa Rica.
There’s just one problem: I can’t buy one.
Not because they’re out of my budget, but because selling them in Costa Rica is illegal.
Nobody except Del Monte can grow them, and nobody—not even Del Monte themselves—can sell them in the country.
And that is very much by design.
Del Monte owns this fruit.
But how can a company own a fruit?
To answer that question, I traveled across my native Costa Rica, searching grocery stores and farmers’ markets, talking to locals, and—if I’m being honest—desperately trying to taste one.
What I discovered was surprising.
Most people don’t even know what these pineapples are.
I also learned that the reason behind all the secrecy and restrictions traces back to one critical, catastrophic, billion-dollar mistake Del Monte made years ago—a mistake that changed the pineapple industry forever.
The Pineapple That Changed the World
This is a Smooth Cayenne pineapple.
It’s the pineapple many baby boomers grew up eating, though it’s no longer the variety you’ll typically find in supermarkets.
It’s a bit sour.
Definitely not the sweet pineapple I grew up eating.
But it’s good.
Now compare that to the MD-2, also known as the Golden Pineapple.
Released around 1996, it was juicier, sweeter, and more appealing to consumers.
It’s probably the pineapple you’ve tasted.
And it’s also the pineapple that changed the world.
Golden pineapples made people fall in love with pineapples.
Del Monte began developing the MD-2 in Hawaii during the 1960s, alongside several other food companies. The goal was to create a pineapple that was sweeter, larger, and stayed fresh longer.
Eventually, the other companies left the project.
Del Monte kept going.
The company moved its research operations to Costa Rica in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
More than 30 years after the project began, they finally succeeded.
They called it a once-in-a-lifetime fruit.
Del Monte’s First Big Mistake
Del Monte knew how valuable the MD-2 was and attempted to patent it.
But there was a problem.
The company hadn’t started the research alone. Other companies had been involved during the early years in Hawaii.
When the final product emerged in the 1990s, the parties couldn’t agree on patent ownership terms.
So how do you protect a 30-year, multi-million-dollar research project?
Del Monte tried two strategies.
First, it patented another pineapple variety called the CO-2. It wasn’t the MD-2 itself, but more like a genetic sibling. The patent helped discourage competitors from copying the fruit.
Second, Del Monte relied on secrecy.
The company maintained strict confidentiality practices so the pineapple could qualify as a trade secret under U.S. law. While not as strong as a patent, trade-secret protection could still provide legal leverage if someone copied the fruit.
Then, in 1996, the Golden Pineapple launched.
Or rather, it launched in the United States.
Not in Costa Rica.
This was an export product designed to command premium prices, not something intended for local consumers.
And it was a huge success.
Del Monte’s sales more than doubled after the Golden Pineapple was introduced.
Ironically, all of these pineapples were grown in Costa Rica—even though Costa Ricans couldn’t officially enjoy them.
When the Secret Escaped
Then something unexpected happened.
Golden pineapples began appearing in Costa Rican farmers’ markets.
How?
Commercial pineapples are cleverly designed without seeds, making them difficult to reproduce independently.
However, pineapples can still be grown from their tops.
Farm workers and growers who gained access to pineapple tops began cultivating their own plants. Farms also hired workers with knowledge of Del Monte’s growing techniques.
Before long, MD-2 pineapples were spreading everywhere.
The bigger problem for Del Monte was Dole.
Dole, Del Monte’s biggest competitor, began growing the exact same MD-2 variety in Honduras.
Del Monte sued, arguing that Dole had violated its trade secrets.
The case failed.
By then, the pineapple was no longer a secret.
It was being grown across the world.
By the early 2000s, Del Monte conceded defeat.
Its exclusive control over the Golden Pineapple was gone.
For consumers, that was fantastic news.
For Del Monte, it was a lesson they would never forget.
Enter the Pinkglow Pineapple
That brings us back to the Pinkglow pineapple.
Del Monte began developing it in the early 2000s.
It received FDA clearance in 2016 and officially launched in October 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic.
At launch, it sold for $49 per pineapple.
That sounds outrageous.
But when you have a highly novel product, ultra-limited harvests, and a fruit seemingly built for social media, people are often willing to pay premium prices.
Consumers pay more when something feels scarce, exclusive, or luxurious.
And Del Monte leaned heavily into all three.
Limited harvests.
Exclusivity.
Luxury branding.
It’s a strategy many companies use.
Take Liquid Death, for example.
It’s essentially water packaged in a tall aluminum can with aggressive branding.
The product is similar, but the story and presentation make it feel different—and therefore more valuable.
The same principle applies here.
The $400 Ruby Glow Pineapple
Then came the ultimate expression of this strategy: the Ruby Glow pineapple.
Getting one isn’t easy.
To buy a Ruby Glow, you typically need to join a waitlist in the United States.
The fruit costs around $400.
And even then, availability is extremely limited.
Despite its appearance resembling a standard Golden Pineapple, the Ruby Glow features a distinctive reddish exterior.
It grows in very small batches and can take up to two years to mature.
According to Del Monte, it’s incredibly flavorful.
Unfortunately, I can’t confirm that.
I’ve spent weeks researching this pineapple, and I’ve still never tasted one.
This was the closest I got.
Unlike the Pinkglow, the Ruby Glow is not genetically modified.
Del Monte describes it as a traditionally crossbred hybrid between a conventional pineapple and the Morada pineapple from South America.
According to the company, only about 5,000 Ruby Glow pineapples were grown in 2024, and only around 3,000 in 2025.
Interestingly, the first market for the fruit wasn’t the United States.
It was China.
The Luxury Fruit Market
The Asian market is already familiar with premium fruit.
Japan’s famous Yubari King melon once sold for one million yen—approximately $6,900—at a season-opening auction.
Japan also has the Crown Melon, often marketed as the king of fruits, with premium retail prices beginning around $160.
Then there are Japan’s famous cube-shaped watermelons.
Compared with these products, Pinkglow and Ruby Glow pineapples may not seem quite as shocking.
Still, for people accustomed to buying a regular pineapple for around $5, the price can be hard to believe.
Why Costa Ricans Can’t Buy Them
Pineapple plantations cover much of Costa Rica.
After extensive searching, it appears that many of these premium pineapples are grown in the southern region of Buenos Aires.
Unlike the Golden Pineapple situation, Del Monte wasn’t taking any chances this time.
The company patented everything.
The plant.
The fruit.
The branding.
Those trademark symbols next to Pinkglow and Ruby Glow are there for a reason.
But Del Monte also found another layer of protection.
Costa Rica’s biosafety laws.
Since Pinkglow is genetically modified, growers require special government approval to cultivate it.
Instead of relying solely on patent lawsuits—which can be slow and difficult—Del Monte effectively uses biosafety regulations as an additional enforcement mechanism.
According to Costa Rica’s agricultural authorities, at least three farms have been shut down for attempting to grow Pinkglow pineapples without authorization.
Del Monte secured permission to grow and export the fruit.
However, the company never completed the process required for local consumption approval.
As a result, Pinkglow pineapples cannot legally be sold in Costa Rica.
Anyone holding one is technically breaking the law.
The Ethical Question: Can You Own a Fruit?
The part that bothers me most is this:
Whenever reports emerge about Pinkglow pineapples being grown locally, Del Monte asks Costa Ricans not to buy them.
That doesn’t sit well with me.
The company created a product that is farmed by Costa Ricans, grown on Costa Rican soil, and yet priced far beyond what many locals can afford.
Then it refuses to sell the fruit in the country at all.
So the bigger question becomes:
Is it ethical to own a fruit?
Personally, I see both sides.
On one hand, developing products like this requires decades of research, scientific innovation, and millions of dollars in investment.
Companies that create something genuinely novel deserve some exclusivity and an opportunity to earn a return on that investment.
On the other hand, genetically modified crops have occasionally created real-world challenges.
Examples range from StarLink corn, which was approved only for animal feed but still found its way into human food products, to crops engineered with bacterial DNA that eventually faced pest resistance.
Countries like Costa Rica carry some of those risks.
And, speaking personally, I think Costa Ricans are being left out of something that could easily become a source of national pride.
A premium—possibly delicious—pineapple is grown in our country.
Yet many Costa Ricans may never know what it tastes like.
Perhaps not for years.
Maybe not ever.
And that’s what makes this story so fascinating.
It’s not really about pineapples.
It’s about ownership, innovation, exclusivity, and who gets access to the products created from a country’s own land.
