previous next

How to Cut a Pineapple

posted in Fruits by Kathy Maister

You can buy either whole pineapples or pre-cut fresh pineapples in the produce section of the grocery store. In my grocery store it costs almost $2 more to buy the precut pineapple.

The mighty pineapple is really easy to slice, as long as you have a big sharp knife.

Start by removing the top

Then the bottom

With the pineapple sitting firmly on the cutting board, start slicing off the outer layer of skin.

Then cut it into slices.

Trim out the very center as it tends to be very tough to chew.

The juicy, sweet, and tangy flavor makes it a great addition to fruit salads or fruit kabobs.

If you are making a gelatin fruit salad (Jell-O!) you have to use canned pineapple. The natural enzymes in fresh (and frozen) pineapple do not allow the gelatin to set.

Be sure to buy pineapples that have crisp green leaves and feels uniformly soft to the touch. Specific soft spots means the pineapple has started to go off.

Pineapples do not continue to ripen, or get any sweeter off the vine. Uncut, kept at room temperature, the acidity levels will decrease.

Be sure to wrap up leftovers tightly in plastic wrap. They should last about 3 days in the refrigerator.

If you are new to startcooking, or are a regular visitor here, please consider subscribing for free.

7 Comments

Jon Sacker said:

Yum! I love fresh pineapple. I once cut one with a swiss army pen-knife (pocket knife), but I wouldn’t recommended that!

However, if you can find them one kitchen gadget I would definitely recommend (and I’m not normally a fan of single use gadgets) is a pineapple corer.

This works just like a giant corkscrew and leaves you with the entire pineapple skinned and cored and left in one giant slice. Have a look here.

Jon

Josh said:

I find it easier to cut the peeled pineapple vertically into quarters, then remove the core 4 times (in long strips) vs. slicing the pineapple horizontally and removing the core from each slice.

The 4 core-less quarters are easy to chop into smaller pieces.

P.S. Jon, Swiss army knife Wow, that’s impressive! :-)

Jon Sacker said:

Josh, I don’t know about impressive – certainly messy (it was a VERY juicy Malaysian pineapple – yum). ;-)

early said:

hey, thanks for the info. i am trying it now. email me and i will let you know how it turned out

Larry said:

any way you slice it pineapple is by far my favorite fruit. try it roasted in large chunks on the BBQ. the natural suger blackens it and it tastes like candy-YUM

Kathy Maister said:

BBQ pineapple sounds delicious! I might add a bit of freshly ground black pepper as well. Yes, it does sound odd to pepper pineapple, but it works!

Mikkel said:

Thanks for the information, i never bought a pinapple before, only tried those can ones…

hehe i always thought pineapples were hollow in the middle.. :P

More content