Chopping up a fresh pineapple
Because you asked and I have a camera :)
1. Get a pineapple that's brown and green on the body, has green leaves on top, and isn't soft.
2. Chop off the top and bottom (slices will be maybe a centimeter thick).
3. Peel the pineapple by cutting little slabs off the side. Mine were each about two inches wide.
You'll probably need to trim a little here and there to get some really big leftover brown or green spots, especially at the bottom. You don't have to completely eradicate any sign of brown on the pineapple--you're just trying to get rid of the tough skin.
Now you have a big yellow lump of pineapple and a pile of scraps.
Notice the switch to shadowy images for dramatic effect*
That's a little big for one meal and much too big to fit in your mouth.
4. Next you start chopping the chunk to bits. Wait, wait! There's a method to this. First, look at the top of the chunk. You should see a lighter circle in the middle of it.
Try to cut the pineapple into quarters along that core. For each quarter, cut the tip off so the core is gone. (It's rather chewy. You don't want to eat it.)
The edible is separated from the less edible. Guess what? Time to chop more!
5. The last step is to cut each of the quarters into bite-size pieces. This works best if you cut it approximately into thirds length-wise and then slice those up.
In ten-ish minutes, you have a slimy mess of tasty pineapple bites--minus the few you had to taste-test to make sure the pineapple didn't go bad as you were cutting it up. This pineapple made eight cups of pineapple chunks.
As a bonus, you have a neat little hat for the counter-top compost bin (until you take it out, which you'd want to do before the critters gather).
*Actually, the images are shadowy because I did this at midnight while my oatmeal cooked (see bowl of oatmeal in the background of the first picture). The kitchen was dark and I was too lazy to mess with the camera settings.
1. Get a pineapple that's brown and green on the body, has green leaves on top, and isn't soft.
2. Chop off the top and bottom (slices will be maybe a centimeter thick).
3. Peel the pineapple by cutting little slabs off the side. Mine were each about two inches wide.
You'll probably need to trim a little here and there to get some really big leftover brown or green spots, especially at the bottom. You don't have to completely eradicate any sign of brown on the pineapple--you're just trying to get rid of the tough skin.
Now you have a big yellow lump of pineapple and a pile of scraps.
Notice the switch to shadowy images for dramatic effect*
That's a little big for one meal and much too big to fit in your mouth.
4. Next you start chopping the chunk to bits. Wait, wait! There's a method to this. First, look at the top of the chunk. You should see a lighter circle in the middle of it.
Try to cut the pineapple into quarters along that core. For each quarter, cut the tip off so the core is gone. (It's rather chewy. You don't want to eat it.)
The edible is separated from the less edible. Guess what? Time to chop more!
5. The last step is to cut each of the quarters into bite-size pieces. This works best if you cut it approximately into thirds length-wise and then slice those up.
In ten-ish minutes, you have a slimy mess of tasty pineapple bites--minus the few you had to taste-test to make sure the pineapple didn't go bad as you were cutting it up. This pineapple made eight cups of pineapple chunks.
As a bonus, you have a neat little hat for the counter-top compost bin (until you take it out, which you'd want to do before the critters gather).
*Actually, the images are shadowy because I did this at midnight while my oatmeal cooked (see bowl of oatmeal in the background of the first picture). The kitchen was dark and I was too lazy to mess with the camera settings.