I found the world's most unexpected pineapple hotspot, and it's in Europe

Be a pineapple: stand tall, wear a crown, and be sweet on the inside." I saw this delicious instruction for life on a wall in Hawaii, surely the spiritual home of the pineapple.

The king of fruit in the land of aloha is crushed, juiced, slushi-fied and blended into soft serve; it's the perfect summer treat.

But did you know that on the other side of the world, in the faraway Azores, some of the juiciest, sweetest pineapples you'll ever taste are grown?

Lush and green, the region has been called the Hawaii of Europe.

I didn't know any of this until I stopped in the capital port of Ponta Delgada on a transatlantic cruise from Lisbon to New York.

Located about 1400 kilometres west of mainland Portugal, of which it is an autonomous region, the Azores is a string of nine volcanic islands in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Pineapples were introduced to the islands from South America in the mid-19th century and became a vital crop after the local orange industry failed.

The climate is too temperate for tropical fruit, so farmers developed a way to grow the juicy beauties in glasshouses, using smoke and careful cultivation, a labour-intensive process that can take up to two years.