Contrasting and Reinforcing Flavors: What Scientists Have to Say About Pineapple on Pizza

Most pizza fans have strong opinions about pineapple as a topping, but what does science say about the controversy?

As IFLScience reports, flavor chemists—and, yes, they do exist—know that receptors in the human mouth detect five basic flavors: sweetness, saltiness, sourness, bitterness and umami (or savory).

“In real pineapple,” the article states, “its sweetness and tartness largely come from citric acid, combined with fruity esters, plus vanillin and eugenal (which taste like vanilla and clove), and oxygen-containing carbon rings that give caramel and sherry overtones. What do all these notes and compounds have to say about the argument of pineapple on pizza? They could well underpin why some people think the topping enhances the saltier, savory flavors of pizza.”

Related: How to make Chef Leah Scurto’s Rosemary Sicilian Grandma Pie

In an interview with Mel Magazine, flavor chemist Terry Miesle of FONA International, noted, “When we’re talking about food pairings, we’re talking about things that both reinforce flavors in each other, as well as flavors that provide contrast.”

“For example,” Miesle continued, “when you put garlic on a steak, you’ve got a lot of sulfur compounds and sugars, and those reinforce the steak, but you can also taste the contrast. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to tell it’s there. With pineapple on pizza, it’s doing both of these things—it’s reinforcing and contrasting—but with different components of the pizza.”

Miesle said pineapple and tomato sauce reinforce and contrast each other in different ways. Both are fruits that contain acids. Tomatoes have lactic acid and a little bit of citric acid, while pineapple is loaded with citric acid and some ascorbic acid (vitamin C) but no lactic acid. These different acids produce different tastes that contrast each other.

Cheese also has a fruity component—that’s why it changes as it ages over months and years. Indeed, cheese “ripens” like a fruit, although it remains tasty for a lot longer than, say, a tomato. Additionally, cheese, tomato, ham and pineapple all caramelize when they’re heated, reinforcing all that flavor.

Taken together, those four ingredients provide both flavor reinforcement and contrast as well as intensity of flavor.

Another flavor chemist, Susie Bautista, pointed out to Mel Magazine that pineapple also adds a wee bit of crunch the pizza’s texture, not unlike peppers and onions.

The problem for some pizza fans, Miesle notes, might be that pineapple on pizza offers a little too much contrast with the more traditional salty and savory flavors that they associate with pizza.

But pineapple can make pizza a little better for your health, as IFLScience reminded readers. “Eating the rainbow is a good approach if you want to start getting your vitamins from food instead of supplements…A pizza would be a pretty great canvas for checking off a few hues, given we already have fruity tomato representing red, peppers for greens and oranges, and red onions for hitting the bluey-purples. As for yellow? Well, pineapple seems a fine choice.”

After all, pineapple is a good source of vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber and even bioactive compounds with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. “By introducing more fruits and vegetables to our meals, we can top up our nutrient intake, and that extends to the often maligned pineapple chunk,” IFL Science explained.

Of course, it ultimately comes down to personal opinion. Pineapple lends a sweetness that, for many pizzeria customers, simply doesn’t make sense on a pie. For others, it hits just the right note of contrast. And anyone who doesn’t like it simply doesn’t have to order a Hawaiian pizza. A plain cheese or pepperoni pie will never let you down.