Wednesday, July 1, 2009

How to Cut a Pineapple

Whole pineapples typically sell for about $5 each at the grocery store, so when I saw them on sale, I purchased several in anticipation of using one for dinner that night and the others for freezing. We enjoy fresh pineapple all year long at a fraction of the cost by freezing them. I primarily freeze pineapple in cubes, but you may also freeze it in spears or quarters as well.

If the initial thought of cubing your own pineapple is intimidating, follow these simple steps and you will transform your pineapple into something that you can enjoy.


1. Place pineapple sideways on a cutting board and cut off base and approximately 3/4-inch below stem using a sharp, serrated knife.


2. By turning the pineapple upright and looking at the exposed flesh, you will see the two main inedible parts of the pineapple that we need to eliminate: the eyes and the core. The eyes run around the outer edge and are in columns the length of the pineapple. The core is the hard, inner center.

3. With pineapple upright, place knife behind one eye and cut down following the contour of the pineapple.

4. Continue taking slices off around the pineapple, identifying each column of eyes and cutting just behind them.

5. Once you have completed the circumference of the pineapple, remove any eyes that were missed. Try to eliminate as little of the pineapple flesh as possible.


6. Slice pineapple in half exposing inner core.

7. Slice pineapple in fourths.


8. Now we will remove the core in each of the quarter sections by placing knife just behind the core and slicing.


9. The remaining part is all the edible flesh of the pineapple. You may chose to keep the quartered sections for grilling....

...or you may half each section again for thinner spears for cooking or grilling...

...or you may make cubes for cooking or freezing...

...or eating!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you cut the edible part of the pineapple away from the core thus keeping it whole, you can then slice the core into one inch cubes which you can freeze and use as ice cubes in fruit drinks.

Mamahollioni said...

I never knew that!! I appreciate you sharing...I will definitely keep the core in the future to freese for ice cubes. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the easy to follow directions AND more importantly..the great pictures that make it simple to follow along and know exactly what to do. Now I am not intimidated by a whole pineapple and will purchase it more frequently.