Maybe it's the allure of the island mystique. Maybe it's the challenge of growing any type of food. Regardless, our viewers write in year-after-year, asking how I grow my pineapples on the 10News Ranch.

The good news is that it's easy. The bad news is it takes patience.

Start with a store-bought pineapple.

The best-tasting fruit is golden in color and smells like a pineapple. If it smells like a pineapple, it will be sweet and wonderful.

Cut the top off as you normally would when preparing the fruit. Leave about 3/4 of an inch of meat below the crown when you cut it off. Use a spoon to remove the meat left inside the top.

In the center of the pineapple meat there is a round fibrous center. Do not remove that part, just the remaining meat.

Toss the top aside for about five days and allow it to dry in a shaded spot. This allows the crown to heal over and prevent rot.

Once it's dried, prepare a soil mixture of 1/3 cactus mix, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 orchid mix (all available at any nursery or garden center).

This mixture is not essential. Any soil mixture which drains quickly and does not retain moisture for a long time will work. Pineapples don't like wet feet, so drainage is important. A mixture of 2/3 compost, and 1/3 vermiculite will also do nicely.

Plant the crown in a clay pot. You can increase the size of the pot as the plant grows. Start in a one-gallon pot.

If you fertilize with organic foods, try an all-purpose organic fertilizer every three months. A mixture of equal parts fishmeal, bone meal, and kelp meal every three months will also deliver healthy growth. On the other hand, if you don't mind chemicals, a liquid fertilizer every couple weeks will work.

Pineapples are tropical bromeliads, and won't survive frost. Choose the sunniest place in your yard, and if you can grow it near a wall that will retain and radiate heat at night you'll have even more luck.

That's the easy part, now the patient part.

In about 18 months to 2 years, a small pineapple will emerge. It won't get as big as the fruit from the tropics, but it is still quite edible.