How to Cut a Pineapple

Choosing a Pineapple

Smell the pineapple. Smell from the bottom to get the most accurate aroma. The pineapple must smell sweet and fresh. If you detect an odor that suggests fermentation or there is no sweetness present, skip that pineapple.

Look at the pineapple. Some green on the sides of a pineapple is OK, but the entire pineapple should not be green. A good pineapple is typically golden on the bottom. Avoid pineapples with visible bruising.

Press on the pineapple. The pineapple should be firm. It will give a little to firm pressure. If the pineapple feels soft and mushy, then it is overripe. The pineapple should be heavy for its size.

Check the crown. Pull off one of the middle leaves. If it comes off easily, the pineapple is good to go.

Peeling the Pineapple

Place the pineapple on its side. Use a cutting board or other cutting surface.

Cut the crown and the stem off. Using a sharp chef’s knife, cut them both off about a half inch into the pineapple.

Stand the pineapple up on one end. Slice the skin off the sides, going from top to bottom. Cut as thinly as possible. Leave as much flesh as you can remaining on the pineapple; the sweetest part of the pineapple is the most outer flesh. Following the contour of the fruit will help prevent loss of flesh where the pineapple bulges in the middle. Do not remove the eyes (brown spots) while cutting away the skin, or you will lose too much of the good flesh. Cut off the skin in ⁄4 in (0.64 cm) slices to remove all of the spines. About 6 cuts should be enough to remove the skin from each side of the fruit.

Remove the eye spots. Eye spots will all line up in diagonal rows on the pineapple. Cut a V-shaped groove along the diagonal line to remove each set of eye spots. The remaining flesh is ready for cutting now. You will lose a bit more of the good pineapple flesh by removing the eyes this way, but it takes significantly less time than removing each eye one by one.

Cutting the Pineapple

Cut pineapple circles. Lay the peeled pineapple on its side and cut slices around 3/4" inch thick. This will leave you with whole circles of pineapple. You can stick a fork into the thick core to hold the circle. The core is tough, but edible and healthy. You can turn the circles into rings by cutting out the core. This can be done with ease using a round pastry or dough cutter.

Cut the pineapple into chunks. Stand the pineapple up and cut it into quarters length-wise. Cut the core from each quarter of pineapple, and then cut each quarter in half length-wise again. Lay each of the strips down and slice them into chunks. One pineapple will yield around 4 cups of chunks.

Add the pineapple to your recipe or meal. It is delicious eaten as it is with nothing added or you can add yogurt, whipped cream, crushed nuts, etc. Or use it to make pineapple upside-down cake, as an addition to a meat dish or as a decoration atop a dessert.