Episode 44 – Cutting Pineapple On A Cliff In Hawaii

Cutting pineapple is a necessary skill if you’re staying in Hawaii for any amount of time. Doing it on a 300 foot cliff above the ocean makes it that much sweeter.

I’ve been vacationing in Hawaii, and of course, pineapples are everywhere! For someone who loves fresh ingredients, this is a real treat for me. However, fresh pineapple doesn’t come in a can like the grocery store at home. I’ve got to prepare it myself.

I’m not sure what’s harder, how to open a coconut or a pineapple. What makes this task difficult is that the outer skin is inedible. The center stalk is also inedible. So, skillfully extracting the fruit from between these two barriers is the trick.

To make an attractive plate presentation, I want to prepare a pineapple boat. This is where the skin is still in tact, but the fruit is already cut for eating.

The first step is to cut the top and bottom to make it easier to work with. Then, cut the spiny fruit in half from top to bottom. Cut each half in half, creating quarter pineapples.

This is where cutting pineapple can get tricky and you need some basic knife skills. With a chef’s knife cutting horizontally, cut the stalky middle stem from the apex of your quarter pineapple.

Now the object is to remove as much fruit without including the inedible “eyes” of the pineapple directly under the skin. Again with a horizontal stroke, cut as close to the inside of the skin as possible, removing a pineapple “filet”.

This filet can then be cut into cubes right inside the pineapple quarter you’ve carved it from. This makes an attractive appetizer display or side dish for buffet.

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