Fruit
Cayenne
A tier
Cayenne is the broad commercial group that built the canned pineapple industry—large cylindrical fruit, pale yellow flesh, high acidity, and strong aroma when ripe. Smooth Cayenne is the best-known subgroup; growers and packers often say Cayenne as shorthand for that processing lineage. Fibrous flesh holds up to cooking and canning better than some ultra-soft fresh dessert clones. Use for classic upside-down cakes, sweet-and-sour sauces, and juice blends that need backbone acid. Fresh eating is excellent when fully ripe, though modern MD-2 types often win supermarket preference for lower acid and longer shelf life. Spiny leaves historically made field work harder than spineless sports.
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Grading systems
Grades are placed along a shared scale so systems can be compared side by side.
History
Cayenne-type pineapples from French Guiana material entered global clonal trade.
Hawaiian canneries scaled Cayenne as the industrial pineapple standard.
Cayenne clones dominated world processing and much fresh trade.
Fresh-market shifts toward MD-2 reduced Cayenne’s retail share while processing retained it.