The sweet and sour pineapple is a great snack and treat, but the prickly, thick skin can make it seem like a challenge to slice. You could buy pre-sliced or canned pineapple, but it’s usually much more economical to slice it yourself. With our tips, you’ll quickly be slicing and dicing pineapples like a pro. So how do you cut the pineapple open properly?
Before you get out the knife, make sure the pineapple is ready to be cut. That is, choose a ripe pineapple! But how can you tell if it’s ripe? If the outer skin of the fruit is yellow or golden, it should be ripe. If it’s green, it won’t be ready to be cut just yet. You can gently press on the fruit to see if it feels soft. A ripe pineapple won’t feel very squishy but it shouldn’t feel rock hard either.
- Place the fruit on a cutting board. Hold it firmly down with one hand. Then slice off the bottom and the top part at around half an inch from the body of the fruit.
- Turn it onto its bottom and trim the outer skin from top to bottom. Be careful not to cut too liberally as otherwise you could be wasting lots of the sweet flesh.
- Remove the eyes. The eyes are what is referred to as the brown holes that remain in the flesh after you remove the outer layer. Use a knife to shave them off or trim them out.
- Now that you’re done peeling the fruit, remove the core. That’s the inner, tough part of the pineapple. Some people will eat it while others find it too woody and hard. Simply slice around the core in four large chunks from top to bottom.
- Slice pineapple batons into smaller cubes or chunks.
- Place them in a bowl and eat immediately or store them in an airtight container in the fridge to consume later.
Here’s a pineapple cutting trick for those who prefer the tropical fruit in the shape of rings:
- Prepare the pineapple according to steps 1-3 above.
- Then lay the fruit on its side and slice it into the desired thickness of rings.
- Use a cookie stencil or cutter to remove the core of each slice.
- You could store the rings or cut them into slices.
Once you’ve practiced your pineapple best cut, it should be eaten immediately. That’s because it’s perishable. If you’re keeping it to be consumed later, it’s best to store it inside a lidded container in the fridge. Pineapple should be eaten within three to five days once cut. It will usually release juice when it’s stored. That’s a good thing. So avoid draining the juice because it keeps the pieces from turning brown and ensures that it stays fresher for longer.
Don’t forget to check out our other food related tips. Bon appetit!