Tasty Tuesday: How to Cut a Pineapple

Pineapples have always intimidated me.  They look so pretty in the grocery store, but how do you actually convert them to freshly cut fruit?  How exactly do you know when they are ripe?  So many questions…

Somehow this came up during a conversation at work and my witty and talented co-worker Joyce came right to my rescue.  She sent along a full blog post on how to cut a pineapple.  Always up for a challenge, I decided to put her directions into action and see if I could manage to master the art of pineapple carving.  I took photos along the way to prove I did it, and to show how easy it actually is.  As you can see below, I was successful!

So, here is Joyce with the how-to and the photos I took while on my pineapple cutting adventure:

I’m often surprised by how many people are intimidated about buying and cutting up a supermarket pineapple. Sure, it looks thorny and unwieldy, and most of us have been disappointed by contents that aren’t sweet or juicy. So it seems easier to drop six bucks on the cored, pared version in the baggie, or even succumb to the canned version.

The right approach, like so much in cooking, is simple but takes time. Your best bet with a pineapple, as with an avocado, is to buy it when it’s hard and green (and on sale) and to let it ripen in your own kitchen until it’s perfectly ripe.

So how do you know when it’s ripe? Well, that business about pulling a leaf from the top center from the top has never struck me as very useful—even when it slides out easily, the fruit may need more time. I go by look (uniform golden color) and smell (heavenly and fruity—check the bottom). I’d rather have it go a little too far, with a bit of mold on the bottom, than cut it up too early, since you can always chop off any brown bits, but there’s no remedy for hard, dry fruit.

(Note from Erin: My pineapple was super ripe and I did have to cut off the bottom.  I suppose I could have cut it a week ago and it would have been fine!)

Now the fun part: hacking it up. Have a bowl ready for the cut-up fruit and a compost bag for the trimmings; sharpen your big heavy knife, and get a cutting board. And have a paper towel ready for any runaway juice.

Grasp the leaf crown in one hand and the pineapple in the other, and twist it off.

Now you’re going to quarter the pineapple lengthwise.

Next, you’re going to slice the core off each of the four quarters. Then slice off the crusty exterior. Cut off less rather than more, because you can always go back with a small knife or the tip of a vegetable peeler to scoop out those hard little nuggets.

For bite-size pieces, slice the quarters in thirds lengthwise, then cut across in 1-inch pieces. That’s it!

Following Joyce’s step-by-step instructions, I had success in cutting my very first pineapple and the freshly cut fruit is so delicious!

So tell me, are you a pineapple newbie like me or did you master this skill a long time ago?