I’ll show you how to cut a pineapple the quick and easy way so you can take advantage of the fresh pineapples available year round in the supermarket ~ thank you 50th State!
why do you need to know how to cut a pineapple?
Fresh pineapples are one of the most under utilized of all the fresh fruits, especially when you consider that these juicy fruits are available all 12 months of the year right in your regular grocery store. Most of use just breeze right by them because we haven’t the faintest idea of how to cut them, or what to do with them once cut.
Once you’re comfortable cutting up your pineapples you can use the convenient chunks for smoothies, salsas, fruit salads and lots more.
choosing the right pineapple
A ripe pineapple will be a vibrant green-ish yellow on the outside. If it’s all green, with no yellow, then it’s probably not ripe. Pineapples don’t continue to ripen after they’ve been picked, so choose wisely!
The flesh should be firm with a little ‘give’ when you press it. If it’s rock hard, pass it up.
A pineapple should feel heavy for its size.
It should smell ‘pine-apply’ when you sniff the bottom of the fruit (do this when the produce manager’s not looking.)
HOW TO CUT A PINEAPPLE
trim the top off the pineapple
Start with a sharp serrated knife. Slice off the spiky leafed top, or ‘crown’, of the pineapple and discard. If the bottom is uneven, slice that off as well.
trim off the peel
Stand the pineapple on end and use your knife to carefully slice off the rind, following the curve of the fruit.
remove any brown ‘eyes’
Rotate the pineapple until you’ve removed all of the outer peel. Go around with a smaller knife to remove any spiky brown ‘eyes’ left on the fruit.
slice thick or thin
Slice the pineapple as thick or thin as you like, depending on your needs.
dice if desired
Simply dice the slices! Tip: if you’re making salsa slice the pineapple very thinly first, then cut the thin slices into a very small dice. If you’re using for fruit salad or smoothies, you can make the slices a little thicker.
wait ~ can you eat the pineapple core??
Yes, you can definitely eat the core, it’s perfectly edible and delicious, in fact, it’s particularly healthy! The core contains extra fiber, and bromelain, a healing, anti-inflammatory enzyme found only in pineapples. Bromelain is being actively being studied by the medical community for health benefits ranging from treating infections to cancers. Pineapple has been used in folk medicine for centuries.
Definitely leave the core intact if you’re making smoothies or juicing your pineapple. And once you chop up your pineapple you won’t even notice the core, anyway.
what if I want pineapple rings?
If you do want to remove the core for rings, simply use the tip of a small knife to cut around the core and remove from each slice. You can also buy a special pineapple corer, but I find that it’s just the type of gadget that sits in the drawer, unused.
how to use fresh pineapple
Once you’ve prepped your fresh pineapple you can use it in all kinds of recipes that call for canned or fresh fruit.
- Pineapple Salsa
- Coconut Pineapple Coleslaw
- Thai Pineapple Fried Rice
- Pulled Pork with Pineapple Barbecue Sauce
- Pineapple Coconut Bars
- Summer Fruit Salad with Kefir Poppy Seed Dressing
- How to Make Rainbow Fruit Popsicles
- How to Make Any Fruit Crisp Without a Recipe
- Broccoli Salad with Pineapple, Bacon, and Spiced Pecans
- Pink Pineapple ~ everything you need to know!
- Pink Pineapple Shrimp Skewers (with huli huli sauce)
How to Cut a Pineapple
Equipment
- large sharp serrated knife
Ingredients
- 1 ripe pineapple
Instructions
- Start with a sharp serrated knife. Slice off the spiky leafed top, or ‘crown’, of the pineapple and discard.
- Stand the pineapple on end and use your knife to carefully slice off the rind, following the curve of the fruit.
- Rotate the pineapple until you’ve removed all of the outer peel. Go around with a smaller knife to remove any spiky brown ‘eyes’ left on the fruit.
- Slice the pineapple as thick or thin as you like, depending on your needs.
- Simply dice the slices! Tip: if you’re making salsa slice the pineapple very thinly first, then cut the thin slices into a very small dice.
- Plan to use your cut pineapple within 3 days, or freeze for longer storage.
Nutrition
I always feel like I’m wasting a lot of the fruit when I slice off the sides deeply enough to get rid of all the dark bits. I find myself slicing it more thinly, and then I have to go back and cut out the seeds and stuff I don’t want, either with a knife, strawberry huller, or some such tool. It’s more time-consuming, which is probably why I don’t like to do it very often. Maybe I should be convinced just to waste more pineapple. Am I the only one being this ridiculous?
I don’t slice off the sides very deeply, and then just go back and trim the edges. I do notice that some pineapples have deeper more pronounced ‘eye’s than others, though.
We put our pineapples on the window ledge in our kitchen to let ripen and it works every time. We always smell the pineapple bottom at the store to make sure we can smell some hint of pineapple scent, then we fold a paper towel and place that on window ledge with the pineapples on top of each folded paper towel. They continue to ripen and it works like a charm each time! We do only buy pineapples if they’ve already got a little bit of ripening already going on.
Thanks for the tip Ann!
Don’t forget that pineapple on pizza is THE best!! With bacon or ham of course. But I’m Canadian so it’s a must!
I’m with you on that!
I LOVE pizza with ham or bacon and pineapple – so yummy!