Was slicing a pineapple yesterday. Actually, three of them. Never been great at removing the core by splitting it and then removing the core from each side, though.
After I’d gotten the crown and base off the third one, I had an idea. Sliced the rest of it like a salami, and cut around the core in each slice to remove it!
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Then cut the rest of it into six pieces, and only needed four angle cuts and two straight cuts to remove the rind!
Or does everybody do this, and I’m the only mope who was following Dole’s directions on their tag?
P.S. I’m no ASCII artist, so I hope my diagram is comprehensible.
I’ve never known anybody who sliced them. Yes, in cans they come sliced. But every time I’ve seen natural pineapple served, it was sectioned like a watermelon. Dad would sometimes take the core out first, sometimes he didn’t (depending on how difficult the particular pinneaple decided to be). I’ve never tried to do it, I cut the sections first and take the core off second. Then cut along the crust and dice it up, leaving the dice artistically arranged in a zig-zag pattern on the crust. Well, ok, so it’s not very artistic, but it’s easier to stab one die and not two if you can see where the cuts are
Personally, it depends on what I’m doing with it. If I just want pineapple chunks then I chop the top off, then “peel” it with six to eight sliced down the sides, then cut around the core, and finally cut it into smaller pieces. If I want slices then I cut it in slabs and use a paring knife to cut out the bits I don’t want. My feeling is find a method that works for you and go with it.
Don’t know that I’ve ever paid any attention to Dole’s instructions on the tag – didn’t even realize they were on there – but my typical approach is to cut off the top (don’t bother with the base), then quarter vertically, position each quarter vertically and slice out the core with a single vertical cut from top down to the base. Then I’ll usually cut each quarter in half again vertically, then position the piece horizontally and run the knife along the inside of the rind to separate the flesh from it, then cut the flesh into chunks. At that point, you can either dump the chunks into a bowl, or for a fruit tray sort of thing just put toothpicks into the chunks and serve it on the rind. A good, sharp knife can make all the difference. Trying to do this at my mother-in-law’s place with her crappy, thin, dull knives has reduced me to weeping frustration. I generally pack my Wusthof chef’s knife now when we go up there for holiday dinners and such.
I slice before removing the skin - fresh pineapples are expensive here and slicing the skin off the whole thing vertically inevitably ends up wasting a bit more of the fruit than cutting it off after slicing - because of the interlocking pattern of scales on the skin.
Does anyone else eat the core? I do - I know it’s a bit tougher than the rest of the flesh, but it’s still juicy and perfectly edible - just crunchy like a raw carrot or something.
My method: Twist off the crown. Cut the whole pineapple into quarters vertically…like the Dole label shows. Trim off the core section from each quarter. (Sorry, ** Mangetout**, but I find the core to be way too fibrous to chew completely). Make a lengthwise cut into the pineapple quarter from where the core used to be, down to the skin. Make crosswise cuts. again just down to but not through the skin. Then I slip the knife blade close to the skin and slice away under the meat of the pineapple…the pineapple is then already sectioned when it comes free from the skin, so I don’t have to handle it anymore. Usually this takes two passes, one on either side, cutting up to the mid line. I do the same with melons and cantaloupes, presectioning before removing the rind. I may lose a little of the flesh, but when I’m cutting melons for a fruit tray I just don’t have time for carefully making sure every edible morsel is removed…and I’m getting pretty good at cutting as close to the skin as possible. But I just don’t want to take the time to go back and remove those pesky eyes, so I leave more pineapple than I would if I were being fruga; or cutting in front of my mother, who considers any waste to be sinful.
I spent a lot of time in China and one of the most popular fruits in the summer was fresh pineapple. We ate the core (I’m not sure why the core was so soft - maybe it was very ripe?). At any rate, the vendors had a very clever way of slicing the pineapple:
Cut off the top
Make downward, spiral cuts around the outside to remove the skin - it looked a bit like a barber pole when they were done. All the skin was gone but they had only cut deep where those little nodules (don’t know the technical term) were. I’m probably not explaining this very well - you make a “v” cut where the deepest part of the “v” is the nodule.
This is how I do it too. There’s a good bit of flesh still attached to the rind with this method, but here’s how to utilize it:
Pick up each strip of rind, fold it into a wad, and squeeze the hell out of it in your fist so that the juice squeezes into your container of pineapple chunks. You’ll get quite a bit of juice out of them, and it’ll keep the fruit pieces moist and juicy until service. Alternately, just squeeze them directly into your mouth. Yum!
I do the zig zaggy thing Nava described, it’s a ton of fun. I learned it from a friend after having seen it done a zillion times in the south Pacific.
It’s really not that hard, but you need a very sharp knife. I’d try and describe it for you but seeing it done is really the only way. It never fails to impress however.
Second (very enthusiastic) vote for the pineapple corer. You may lose a bit of fruit, but the time that it saves makes it a pleasure instead of a chore.
And if you’re careful, the cored out shell is perfect for tasty grownup drinks!
