Fresh, just-cut pineapple is so delicious. It’s juicy, sweet, and so, so flavorful! We’re walking you through exactly how to cut your own pineapple so that you can nosh on the yummy tropical fruit all season!
Table of Contents
Is Pineapple Good For You?
As with all fruits, pineapple is loaded with some really great stuff. It’s high in vitamin C (which is great for building your immune system!), vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin K, and calcium. It also contains tons of antioxidants and digestion-aiding enzymes.
How to Pick a Pineapple
Knowing how to select fresh fruit at the grocery store or farmer’s market can make all the difference between a super hard, unripe fruit that tastes more like nothing than the actual fruit (you know what I’m talking about!) and a beautifully textured and flavorful piece of fruit that lives up to its nickname: “nature’s candy.”
So, how do you pick a pineapple? Let’s get to it! Pineapples are super funky looking, but when you’re selecting a pineapple, you’ll want to focus more on how it feels (and smells!) rather than how it looks. Though many times ripe pineapples are golden yellow in color, that isn’t always the case.
Ready-to-enjoy pineapples should feel firm to the touch with a slight “give” when you squeeze it — as in, the shell should be hard, but you should be able to feel the slightly softer fruit inside. If the entire fruit just feels super hard, it probably isn’t quite ready to cut into, and if it feels really soft, the pineapple is likely past its time.
You’ll also want to pay attention to the way that the pineapple smells. Give it a quick sniff – if it smells exactly how you’d want it to taste (think: what you would want a “pineapple-scented” candle to smell like), it’s probably perfectly ripe. If it doesn’t smell like anything, though, it’s likely way underripe, and if it smells super sweet (think: too sweet – almost syrupy), there’s a good chance it’s too ripe.
How To Tell If A Pineapple Is Ripe
You’ll know that a pineapple is ready to enjoy if it is hard but gives slightly when squeezed. You’ll also want to smell the pineapple – if it smells like pineapple (not like nothing, but also not overly sweet and syrupy), it is probably good to go!
Will a pineapple ripen on the counter?
Good question! Interestingly enough, pineapples don’t ripen much on the counter. They may get softer and juicier, but they won’t get sweeter. Because of this, it’s important to pick a nice, ripe pineapple at the grocery store (it isn’t going to sit on the counter and get better and sweeter with time like, say, a banana).
The Easiest Way to Cut a Pineapple
The moment we’ve all been waiting for: how to cut a pineapple! Here’s the step-by-step how-to:
- Slice the crown + bottom off of the pineapple – to start, you’ll want to lay the pineapple down so that the green “crown” of the pineapple is touching the cutting board. Then, you’ll want to slice off the crown and the curved bottom of the pineapple. Cutting the bottom off of the pineapple will allow it to stand up without teetering for the next cut!
- Cut the shell off of the pineapple – now that the top and bottom of your pineapple are flat and freshly cut, you’ll want to reposition your pineapple so that what was the crown (but is now a fresh cut) is facing up, and the flat bottom of the pineapple is sitting on the cutting board. Then, with your knife in your dominant hand and your non-dominant hand on the pineapple, run your knife from the top of the pineapple to the bottom, slowly slicing the shell off in strips.
- Slice the flesh away from the core – with the pineapple and your hands in the same position as in step #2, run your knife from the top of the pineapple to the bottom, cutting the flesh away from the core. The core of the pineapple is about an inch in diameter and should be the only thing standing on the cutting board when you’re done with this step! Go ahead and discard the core once you’re done with this step.
- Slice the flesh into strips – now that you have several (probably 4) big cuts of fresh pineapple sitting on the cutting board, go ahead and slice each of those into thinner strips.
- Cube the strips of pineapple – cube the pineapple by cutting the long strips of pineapple crosswise into cubes!
Frequently Asked Questions
We didn’t use a pineapple corer for this how-to, so if you’re just using a knife and a cutting board, be sure to follow the steps above!
It’s not a bad idea to at least rinse your pineapple before cutting it. Because your knife touches both the shell and the flesh, it’s good to make sure that the shell is nice and clean. We wouldn’t worry too much about washing it with soap, though – a good rinse under running water should be just fine!
You don’t need to rinse the pineapple flesh once it’s been cut. Because the shell has acted as a protective barrier, the flesh is totally clean and ready to be enjoyed!
You don’t. There isn’t anything necessarily “bad” about the core other than the fact that it is harder and less flavorful than the rest of the flesh.
An uncut, whole pineapple is fine to sit on the counter for about 2 days. Beyond that, it’ll really start to soften and or even ferment. For this reason, we recommend cutting your pineapple the day you buy it and storing the cut pineapple in the fridge! Cut pineapple shouldn’t be left at room temperature for more than about 2 hours.
More Favorite Kitchen Hacks
The Easiest Way to Cut a Pineapple
Ingredients
- 1 pineapple
Instructions
- Lay the pineapple down so that the green “crown” of the pineapple is touching the cutting board.
- Slice the crown and the curved bottom of the pineapple. Cutting the bottom off of the pineapple will allow it to stand up without teetering for the next cut!
- Now that the top and bottom of your pineapple are flat and freshly cut, reposition your pineapple so that what was the crown (but is now a fresh cut) is facing up, and the flat bottom of the pineapple is sitting on the cutting board. Then, with your knife in your dominant hand and your non-dominant hand on the pineapple, run your knife from the top of the pineapple to the bottom, slowly slicing the shell off in strips.
- With the pineapple and your hands in the same position as in step #2, run your knife from the top of the pineapple to the bottom, cutting the flesh away from the core. The core of the pineapple is about an inch in diameter and should be the only thing standing on the cutting board when you’re done with this step! Go ahead and discard the core once you’re done with this step.
- Now that you have several (probably 4) big cuts of fresh pineapple sitting on the cutting board, go ahead and slice each of those into thinner strips.
- Cube the pineapple by cutting the long strips of pineapple crosswise into cubes. Eat now, or store in a container in the refrigerator for up to one week.
Nutrition
