I'm one of those people who is usually too lazy to buy a whole pineapple and
cut it up. So when I bought a pineapple with plans to do so, I was very proud
of myself. However, pride was quickly replaced with frustration and
disappointment when I cut myself trying to follow the directions. A big, sharp
knife and a slippery pineapple, I discovered, do not cooperate.

I followed the directions on the label, which briefly went as follows: Cut the
head off. Quarter the pineapple, and remove the quartered core lengthwise from
each portion. Then, use the knife to slide just under the skin, freeing it from
the meat. The rest is easy.

I got as far as quartering the pineapple before I cut myself. Removing the core
was not as straightforward as it looked....the way I was holding the piece down
while de-coring put my hand right in the way of the knife. After taking a time
out to recover, I had to continue with the process, although I wasn't able to
properly hold anything down with my left hand due to the cut. (Pineapple juice
stings, by the way.) Also, perhaps because my knife was too big, I couldn't
really follow the curve of the skin to free it without losing a lot of rounded
meaty bits.

I'm a bit traumatized. Surely there must be a better way? What's the right
knife? (I used my new santoku knife, which cut the pineapple like butter, but
is perhaps too big.)
-Jen
Half the people you know are below average. -Steven Wright

>I'm one of those people who is usually too lazy to buy a whole pineapple and
>cut it up. So when I bought a pineapple with plans to do so, I was very proud
>of myself. However, pride was quickly replaced with frustration and
>disappointment when I cut myself trying to follow the directions. A big,
>sharp
>knife and a slippery pineapple, I discovered, do not cooperate.
>
>I followed the directions on the label, which briefly went as follows: Cut
>the
>head off. Quarter the pineapple, and remove the quartered core lengthwise
>from
>each portion. Then, use the knife to slide just under the skin, freeing it
>from
>the meat. The rest is easy.
>
>I got as far as quartering the pineapple before I cut myself. Removing the
>core
>was not as straightforward as it looked....the way I was holding the piece
>down
>while de-coring put my hand right in the way of the knife. After taking a
>time
>out to recover, I had to continue with the process, although I wasn't able to
>properly hold anything down with my left hand due to the cut. (Pineapple
>juice
>stings, by the way.) Also, perhaps because my knife was too big, I couldn't
>really follow the curve of the skin to free it without losing a lot of
>rounded
>meaty bits.
>
>I'm a bit traumatized. Surely there must be a better way? What's the right
>knife? (I used my new santoku knife, which cut the pineapple like butter, but
>is perhaps too big.)
>-Jen
>Half the people you know are below average. -Steven Wright
>

I use an electric knife .. works perfectly every time
~Kat


What did my hands do before they held you?
Sylvia Plath (1932 - 1963)

"JLove98905" > wrote in message
...
> I'm one of those people who is usually too lazy to buy a whole pineapple
and
> cut it up. So when I bought a pineapple with plans to do so, I was very
proud
> of myself. However, pride was quickly replaced with frustration and
> disappointment when I cut myself trying to follow the directions. A big,
sharp
> knife and a slippery pineapple, I discovered, do not cooperate.
>
> I followed the directions on the label, which briefly went as follows: Cut
the
> head off. Quarter the pineapple, and remove the quartered core lengthwise
from
> each portion. Then, use the knife to slide just under the skin, freeing it
from
> the meat. The rest is easy.
>
> I got as far as quartering the pineapple before I cut myself. Removing the
core
> was not as straightforward as it looked....the way I was holding the piece
down
> while de-coring put my hand right in the way of the knife. After taking a
time
> out to recover, I had to continue with the process, although I wasn't able
to
> properly hold anything down with my left hand due to the cut. (Pineapple
juice
> stings, by the way.) Also, perhaps because my knife was too big, I
couldn't
> really follow the curve of the skin to free it without losing a lot of
rounded
> meaty bits.
>
> I'm a bit traumatized. Surely there must be a better way? What's the right
> knife? (I used my new santoku knife, which cut the pineapple like butter,
but
> is perhaps too big.)
> -Jen
> Half the people you know are below average. -Steven Wright
>
>

I've found that the best way to trim a pineapple is to cut off the top AND
the bottom and sit it upright on a cutting board. Take your sharp knife at
the top and slice the "skin" right down the side. Just keep slicing until
the pineapple is fully "skinned". It will have an almost octagonal look.
(If you have a pineapple corer, use it at this time, if not, we'll deal with
the core in a minute.) Then lay the pineapple on its side and make your
slices. To remove the core, you can do several things at this point. You
can try to cut a hole in the center of the slice (which is not very
*entertaining*) or you can do what I do, simply quarter the slices and make
a diagonal chop at each center point.

Viola!

Of course, mine usually goes right into the juice extracter and the
remaining fluids are mixed with rum. But that's just me.

kilikini

>I found a web site that sells these gadgets - here's the link so you can at
>least see what the c/s looks like:
>http://www.tesco-shopping.com/Pineap...cer_detail.htm

I don't get how this thing works. How does it get the center free from the
skin? I take it that you push it down the center and it eliminates the core.

Please explain,
Thanks
-Jen
Half the people you know are below average. -Steven Wright

"JLove98905" > wrote in message
...
> I don't get how this thing works. How does it get the center free from the
> skin? I take it that you push it down the center and it eliminates the
core.
>
> Please explain,
> Thanks
> -Jen
>

OK, I'll do my best to explain how it works...bear with me! :-)

Paraphrasing the written directions:

First, cut the leafy top off the pineapple. Next, center the slicer on top
of the cut pineapple. Turn the slicer clockwise, into the pineapple
(essentially you're screwing it into the fruit). You'll feel less
resistance when you reach the bottom of the pineapple. Pull the slicer out
of the fruit without rotating it, moving the handle back and forth a bit to
break the vacuum.

Remove the grip (handle) by depressing the black spring buttons and then
slide the fruit off the post (the pineapple will be in a continuous spiral).
For individual rings, just slice the spiral lengthwise.

My note he It's best to do this in a shallow bowl to catch any juice
drips when you pull out the fruit. If you've ever seen someone use a
post-hole digger and know what that tool is, this corer/slicer works in a
similar way.

I hope this explains clearly how this (really neat!) gadget works.

Karen

JLove98905 wrote:
<edited>
> I followed the directions on the label, which briefly went as follows: Cut the
> head off. Quarter the pineapple, and remove the quartered core lengthwise from
> each portion. Then, use the knife to slide just under the skin, freeing it from
> the meat. The rest is easy.

I cut the bottome off, leaving the leaves on as a handle, use a long
flexible knife like a slicer, and shimmy it down the sides, going as
deep as I need to get the "eyes" out. Making narrow cuts means you don't
have to go has deep. I then cut the top off half way, lay it on it's
side and cut it lengthwise but off center so that you miss the tough
center pole. This frees about a third of it. I then cut off the top, lay
it on it's flat side and liberate the rest of it from the center pole.
No tears, no cuts, no problems. If you use a pot fork or carving fork
you it's like rubbers *and* foam. HTH
blacksalt

kalanamak > wrote >
> I cut the bottome off, leaving the leaves on as a handle,

Ah! That's brilliant. No slippage!

"JLove98905" > wrote in message
...
> I'm one of those people who is usually too lazy to buy a whole pineapple
and
> cut it up. So when I bought a pineapple with plans to do so, I was very
proud
> of myself. However, pride was quickly replaced with frustration and
> disappointment when I cut myself trying to follow the directions. A big,
sharp
> knife and a slippery pineapple, I discovered, do not cooperate.
>
> I followed the directions on the label, which briefly went as follows: Cut
the
> head off. Quarter the pineapple, and remove the quartered core lengthwise
from
> each portion. Then, use the knife to slide just under the skin, freeing it
from
> the meat. The rest is easy.
>
> I got as far as quartering the pineapple before I cut myself. Removing the
core
> was not as straightforward as it looked....the way I was holding the piece
down
> while de-coring put my hand right in the way of the knife. After taking a
time
> out to recover, I had to continue with the process, although I wasn't able
to
> properly hold anything down with my left hand due to the cut. (Pineapple
juice
> stings, by the way.) Also, perhaps because my knife was too big, I
couldn't
> really follow the curve of the skin to free it without losing a lot of
rounded
> meaty bits.
>
> I'm a bit traumatized. Surely there must be a better way? What's the right
> knife? (I used my new santoku knife, which cut the pineapple like butter,
but
> is perhaps too big.)
> -Jen
> Half the people you know are below average. -Steven Wright
>

Jen I have 2 words for you: Filet Knife. Use a filet or boning knife to
release pineapple from the skin. It follows the curve, and get closer than
any other knife I've tried. Here's what I learned from the roadside
pineapple stands on Oahu (though, granted I don't use a machete!):
Lay the pineapple on it's side and slice off the ends. Stand it up and slice
the skin off in strips, top to bottom. If there are any "eyes" remaining,
use the tip to remove. Like I said, I do this with a boning knife and it is
easy and quick and I don't cut myself anymore!

kimberly

In rec.food.cooking, JLove98905 > wrote:

> I'm a bit traumatized. Surely there must be a better way?

Maybe you should stay out of the kitchen?


--
....I'm an air-conditioned gypsy...

- The Who

In article >,
OSPAM (JLove98905) wrote:

> I'm one of those people who is usually too lazy to buy a whole pineapple and
> cut it up. So when I bought a pineapple with plans to do so, I was very proud
> of myself. However, pride was quickly replaced with frustration and
> disappointment when I cut myself trying to follow the directions. A big,
> sharp
> knife and a slippery pineapple, I discovered, do not cooperate.
>
> I followed the directions on the label, which briefly went as follows: Cut
> the
> head off. Quarter the pineapple, and remove the quartered core lengthwise
> from
> each portion. Then, use the knife to slide just under the skin, freeing it
> from
> the meat. The rest is easy.
>
> I got as far as quartering the pineapple before I cut myself. Removing the
> core
> was not as straightforward as it looked....the way I was holding the piece
> down
> while de-coring put my hand right in the way of the knife. After taking a
> time
> out to recover, I had to continue with the process, although I wasn't able to
> properly hold anything down with my left hand due to the cut. (Pineapple
> juice
> stings, by the way.) Also, perhaps because my knife was too big, I couldn't
> really follow the curve of the skin to free it without losing a lot of
> rounded
> meaty bits.
>
> I'm a bit traumatized. Surely there must be a better way? What's the right
> knife? (I used my new santoku knife, which cut the pineapple like butter, but
> is perhaps too big.)
> -Jen
> Half the people you know are below average. -Steven Wright
>
>

Probably the knife...

Personally, I take a chefs knife and cut off the head, then cut the
pineapple into 8ths, not just quarters.

I then switch to a lighter fillet knife to core and peel.
A large knife is too bulky to finish the delcate work.

HTH? :-)

K.

--
Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...

>,,<Cat's Haven Hobby Farm>,,<Katra at centurytel dot net>,,<
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra

To peel/core a pineapple -

I skin mine the way other people have described - cut off the bottom, use
the leaves as a "handle" and then slice down the sides with a chef's knife
to take out the skin.

If I want just chunks, I just lay the pineapple on the side and cut around
the core.

BUT! If I want pretty rings (for pineapple upside down cake, ham, etc.) I
take my handy-dandy melon baller and scoop out the core, then slice the
pineapple into rings. The melon baller makes pretty holes, and it reduces
the need for another gadget around the house.

HTH,
Sophia

To trim a pineapple, I lay it on its side, slice off the top, and carefully cut
it in half lengthwise. Then I cut it into narrower wedges. The center core
can then be easily removed from each piece. With a small flexable serrated
knife, I scoop each lengthwise piece out of the shell.
Works very well.
Nancree

>(Nancree) writes:
>
>To trim a pineapple, I lay it on its side, slice off the top, and carefully
>cut
>it in half lengthwise. Then I cut it into narrower wedges. The center core
>can then be easily removed from each piece. With a small flexable serrated
>knife, I scoop each lengthwise piece out of the shell.

I mostly buy canned pineapple. Unless you live in Hawaii, Cental America, the
Philippines, or some other pineapple growing region you've never tasted
plantation ripened pinapple. Field ripened pineapple doesn't ship well at all.
The stupidmarket pineapples sold on mainland US are not ripe, not even close,
they're picked green and once picked pineapple does not ripen... it's sugar
content does not increase... instead it ferments. If your pineapple is soft or
you're permitting it to sit around to get soft thinking it's ripening, it's
not, it's beginning to rot. Canned pineapple is harvested field ripened at the
very peak of ripeness and processed right there in the field. Some fancy
schmancy restaurants (the type serving USDA Prime) have field ripened pineapple
flown in but those are very expensive. Canned is not fresh but neither is
stupidmarket pineapple and between the two canned is better. Unless you've
eaten fresh picked field ripened pineapple you've no concept of how pineapple
is supposed to taste.

The best thing to do with stupidmarket pineapple is to roast/grill it... at
least caramelized it will taste decent.


---= BOYCOTT FRENCH--GERMAN (belgium) =---
---= Move UNITED NATIONS To Paris =---
Sheldon
````````````
"Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."

"JLove98905" > wrote in message
...
<snip> I'm a bit traumatized. Surely there must be a better way? What's the
right
> knife? (I used my new santoku knife, which cut the pineapple like butter,
but
> is perhaps too big.)
> -Jen

Jen, I found a gadget that makes coring and cutting a pineapple a snap. I
got one quite by accident: my grocery store offered the corer/slicer for
free (usually runs about $8USD) with the purchase of a fresh pineapple. I
was amazed at how easily this tackled the job. Last year I found one for
just 50 cents at a thrift shop and gave it to my mother, who couldn't
believe how easy it was to use.

I found a web site that sells these gadgets - here's the link so you can at
least see what the c/s looks like:
http://www.tesco-shopping.com/Pineap...cer_detail.htm Note: I'm not
recommending that you buy from this web site; I've never ordered anything
from them and so can't vouch for them.

Your local grocery store may even stock the corer/slicer, so check with them
first.

Karen