How to select an peel a pineapple

[aftermidnite]

To select a good ripe ready to eat pineapple ..

look for a golden overall color if possible ,if not all over at least the bottom half should be a nice golden color without any soft spots .

try to smell it at the bottom for that sweet pineapple smell .

at the top reach inside and select a small leaf and pull ..

if it comes out real easy it is ripe ..

if it takes a little pulling but the color is right it will be about a week until it is ripe .

I eat at least one whole fresh pineapple a week all year round and this very very seldom fails me ..

Here is one of the videos I watched when I was first learning how to cut one without too much waste ..You have to listen because the fella is talking a little softly ..

YouTube

Here is an eye removal tool like I have ...

I only paid .59 for mine at Goodwill tho ..

I have also used a tool for removing tomato cores, the little one with the seriated bowl edges and it works well too.. makes little holes all over


http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-In...053065&sr=1-61


Hope this helps ......

[pattycake]

Very informative. Thanks for posting this!

[Grandmotherbear]

You can plant the top in a pot, feed and water it twice weekly, and either spray ethylene gas into the crown or stick a slice of tart apple in it when it is a year to 18 months old and beginning to show a ittle red in the leaves. The plant will form a fruit, which gives you another top to plant. Pineapples like acid soil and plenty of iron

[aftermidnite]

I worked in a restaurant about 5 yrs ago that bought fresh pineapples to cut and use on their fruit bar on the weekends. I brought home a couple of tops and dried them out for a couple of days and planted them .I gave one to my dear neighbor who can bring a dead twig to life and kept one for myself .
After 3 yrs hers was huge and she sent it to Tenn to her sister who has said it has had a few "baby" pineapples on it /She moves it to her sun porch in the spring and leaves it until late fall when she brings it back inside for winter .
Mine out grew my apartment so I gave it to the assistant manager at Goodwill 2 yrs ago. She just this year got her first "baby" pineapple and is very happy .She told her husband that they might have to move to a bigger apartment so she can have all of the house plants I have given them over the last few years .I am now trying to help them get started on some gardening veggies ..

[Wolfy-hound]

To remove the pineapple top easily, grasp it firmly at the base and twist it out. It should come out without any amount of flesh attached. I planted mine immediately and it has grown decently.

[aftermidnite]

They do grow well but ya gotta watch out for those spikes at the end of the leaves when it gets big ..

[jwal10]

Interesting, I am 57 and never had a whole pineapple. I can eat a little in mixed fruit but not a fan. Coconut either, don't like it at all, EXCEPT in a Mounds bar, 1-2 mini bar a year, maybe....James

[aftermidnite]

James the difference in taste is amazing!
If it is truly ripe..it is the sweetest fruit you could eat .

I find commercially canned pineapple to be more tart and that gives me the mouth irritations some citrus gives you and more"heavy" tasting than one I pick out and buy at the store .
I will never be able to buy one that is just picked fresh from the field so this is my next best thing .
I have also dehydrated them to use and find them to be the sweetest candy bar none.
When I want to bake with it all I need to do is add either fruit juice or water and let rehydrate ..
At.99 each when you find them on sale you cant beat the price to try them just once ...

[jwal10]

The only fruit that we have bought at the market is bananas but it has been a long time. We volunteer at the gleaners and they always have a lot of bananas, one of the few things we ever need. We do buy peaches, but straight from the orchard. I will have to check the next time I am at the market, or gleaners, we only go to the market twice a year or so. We do not like canned pineapple at all, except in orange Jello, shredded carrot and crushed pineapple salad on ice cold lettuce leaves. Thank you for the ideas....James

[jwal10]

Just got to thinking about your mention of dehydrated pineapple, sweetest candy. I remember as a kid, Grandma having some dried pineapple. I always thought it was sugar all over the outside, was this just the juice that dried also? Or was it sugar. It was way too sweet for me and I was not thrilled with the taste. We do not like many tropical fruits.

Story....

My Dad went to Maine when I was a kid, about 8 I would guess. He came back with a 1 gallon jar of dried candied fruit, small, 1/4" pieces or so. We hardly ever had sweets. Dessert was canned fruit with soda crackers and peanut butter. It was sooooo goooood.... until the next day. I have never been so sick in my life (well once when I got food poisoning at a fish restaurant on vacation). That fruit stayed in my belly just long enough to make me oh so sick and then it went straight through, never really wanted any since. Found out dried fruit is very concentrated....James

[aftermidnite]

I make a solution of water and fruit fresh and just dip the pineapple in it and pop it on the trays .
I also add fruit fresh to my freshly cut up pineapple to keep it from browning since it takes me a week to eat a whole one ..
Some will dip in lemon juice and water but I feel like I can still taste the lemon on my pineapple (or any fruit I am trying to keep fresh after slicing or peeling )
I don't like it with any added sugar since it makes it too sweet .
I also do not like the dried pineapple you can buy in the stores because I feel as if I can taste the chemicals they dip theirs in to have a longer shelf life and I think they add sugar to hide the preservative taste which makes it too sweet ...
As I said I don't like the taste of store bought pineapple(I think it has too much acid taste to me ) but do like fresh or my home canned or even frozen I have done myself ..
Hope you get a chance to try it sometime ..you may be surprised after all ..

[Wolfy-hound]

I think they shake the dried pineapple in powdered sugar so it doesn't stick together in packages, but I could be wrong.

Fresh pineapple really is another entire entity than canned. If nothing else, try to to see the difference. If you don't like it, cut the rest up and take it to coworkers or friends as a 'gift' for them.

[aftermidnite]

You are right about giving it as gifts ..
I made the "mistake" of including it in a basket of dried fruits and veggies(along with instructions on uses of both in cooking ) a couple of years ago and the most requested item was the pineapple and the hash browns ..LOL
I had dehydrated ..apples..peaches..blackberries..raspberries..pear s..bananas...carrots..hash browns..corn..broccoli...cabbage..tomatos and tomato powder..green peppers ..celery ..mushrooms..okra...and directions to rehydrate along with recipes to use all items ...
I have requests for these same gifts this year ...and since I dehydrate and can all year and since I have been unemployed since July for the most part this will be a good way for me to gift again this year ...

[BarbadosSheep]

I stock up on them when I catch them on sale and then cube them and freeze them on cookie sheets. They are wonderful in my morning smoothies.