Excelling Above All Fruits

How pineapples became the ultimate status symbol

In 2019, you could have used $22,000 of your savings to buy a car or pay (in-state) college tuition and room and board for your child, or you could have… bought a melon.

That year, a pair of Yubari King melons sold at auction for $45,000, making them the most expensive fruit ever sold. The Yubari King is a hybrid cantaloupe (one of its cultivars is the “