Think you know how to eat a pineapple? Chances are you've been doing it wrong your whole life. Because instead of slicing it, it's possible to actually pull apart a fresh pineapple!
A few years ago I watched someone magically pull perfect, bite sizes pieces of pineapple off of the fruit without using a knife, peeling it or having her nails filled or anything???
If you've been living in a cave (with no internet) you may not have seen it but I can assure you it was a BIG thing when this video came out. Everyone was sharing and spreading it around like the stomach flu on a cruise ship.
This revelation wasn't like not knowing how to peel a peach or prep a leek. Even if you don't actually know the trick to doing those things, they know there is some sort of trick to peeling a peach. You know the trick exists. (it's dipping them in boiling water for a minute by the way)
How was it possible none of us knew how to eat a pineapple??! If we don't know how to pull apart a pineapple what else don't we know?
In an attempt to prove we're not as dumb as corn chips, I found out a couple of things about that video which I'll tell you about in a moment. But first, here's my attempt at the pineapple trick.
Table of Contents
How to Pull Apart a Pineapple
So, it is something that can be done. Technically. It's just a slightly juicier experience than most of us would like to have.
Steps
- With a paring knife cut the pineapple top off in a jagged line, following the pattern of the pineapple sections.
- Grab a section of pineapple with your thumb and index finger and pull it towards the core of the pineapple. It will lift away in a chunk.
What is the Right Way to Eat a Pineapple?
Well it guess it depends on how fond of mess and stickiness and ants crawling up your arm.
If you like pineapple juice across your kitchen, and stickiness running down your forearm until it drips off your elbow attracting the nest of ants that live under your dishwasher then pulling apart a pineapple is the right way to eat it. Just wedge your thumb under each piece (node? chunk? hunk?) and lift it up away from the core. You might need to score the pineapple first.
If you aren't into that sort of thing, just slice it like you normally do.
How to Pull Apart a Pineapple
How to pull apart a pineapple instead of slicing it (like they do in the viral video)
Materials
- Pineapple
- knife
Instructions
Cut the top off of your pineapple in a zig zag pattern, following the guide of the bumps on the pineapple.
Wedge your thumb under one of the pineapple chunks and pull upwards releasing a perfect wedge of pineapple.
Notes
This absolutely works, but the ripeness of the pineapple will dictate how well it works.
If the pineapple is too ripe the pieces will be too mushy to pull away.
If the pineapple isn't ripe enough they'll be difficult to separate and won't release naturally.
The Easy Peeler Pineapple
After a tiny bit or research I found out that there are different varieties of pineapples. One of those varieties is called the Tainung No. 4. It's known as the Easy Peeler Pineapple, and it has very little fibre, is mostly fleshy and ISN'T very juicy. And as far as I can tell you can only get it in Taiwan. More research led me to this article that concurs, the pineapple in the video is probably a very specific type of pineapple.
Having said that, this viral TikTok / Instagram hack did work on a regular pineapple and turned it into a snack-able food that you can just set out and pick pieces from.
It's a good trick. Not as good as the how to open a package of spaghetti trick, but good nonetheless. And it certainly worked better than how to open a wine bottle with a shoe and a tree trunk.
TIPS
It has to be a ripe pineapple. An unripe one just won't pull apart. But if it's tooooo ripe then it'll be too mushy to pull apart as well. It's a conundrum.
Like a bowl of potato chips (if you went to the grocery store to buy potato chips, but they were out of them, and you were forced to buy a stupid pineapple.)
→Follow me on Instagram where I often make a fool of myself←
it's official you are my spirit animal... (and all this time I thought it was the dung beetle (I swear I mean that as a compliment))
Well of course I would take it as such! ~ karen
My son lived on Maui for twelve years and cooked in nice restaurants. So I don’t even try to deal with fresh pineapples — I just plan to get one when I know he’s going to visit. He makes it look so easy and I don’t have to get sticky fingers.
Let me chime in as a resident of a place where pineapples actually grow. The one you are eating is green, has a lot of acidity and not much sweetness. I'd rather suck on a lime than eat one of those.
If you let it sit on your counter for a few weeks - as a trendy pineapple decoration - it will turn orange, yellow and will make your mouth water every time you go into the kitchen with the delicious scent of pineapple. That's the time to cut into it.
HI Leticia! The first one I cut was very yellow. I let it sit on the counter for almost 2 weeks. The problem with that is it then just falls apart. You can't really pull the pineapple away from the core. :/ ~ karen!
The older I get the more comfortable I am with picking things up off my plate and eating them with my fingers, yes, even in restaurants. Always asparagus, broccoli, french fries; I taught my granddaughter to cut her french toast into strips and pick up the slices, dip them in syrup and eat them. I really get into the eating of food. I have heard of this pineapple trick before but have yet to try it.
To add from the Taiwan angle: I lived there for 12 1/2 years and never saw anyone eat pineapple in this fashion. It’s cut up in chunks and sold in little baggies, or stepped onto skewers anything with other fruit.
Monkeys on the internet taught me how to peel a banana properly, so I'm willing to learn. But won't pineapple digest my cuticles or something?
The week after i saw that video they had cheap fresh pineapples at Trader Joe's and i got all excited to try this new eating technique. I let the pineapple ripen for a few more days, sliced off the top, and set it down in front of my hungry 20 year old son and told him to pull delicious bite-sized morsels off the core. He tried....lord knows he LOVE both pineapple and a challenge. We came to the same conclusion that while it's technically true you can eat it that way, it's too much effort. I took it back to the kitchen and cut it in my usual fashion.
Hi, I saw this viral video about three weeks ago. I thought it was pretty cool, but didn’t try it myself. Whole pineapples in New Brunswick are a bit on the expensive side in the Winter/Spring to test on, and perhaps massacre. Thanks for doing that for me. I don’t see why you would really use this, unless your trapped on a tropical bearing island without a knife. I can’t see my friends all sitting around a pineapple some night, just ripping it apart for kicks (maybe a new party game idea) Thanks for testing it though, never a dull moment.
Have you tried the slammed watermelon yet? Just slam it on the driveway, pick up the pieces and eat. The best part is going for the distance record in spitting seeds. This comes from an old family game of drink the vodka before pouring it into the beautifully cut watermelon basket. We all love you, Karen! I know I would have tried this with a pineapple had I seen the video. Now I'll crawl back into my cave and nap. (with my li'l bottle)
Looks like fun. So how can you tell if a pineapple is ripe?
It's more yellow on the outside than green and softer. ~ karen!
Isn't there something about pulling a leaf and if it comes out easy, it's ripe??
Yeah, pull a leaf from the center of the crown. If it comes out easily, it’s ripe. If it’s hard, it’s not ripe.
A grocery store produce maven taught me this trick—grab one of the spikes on the top of the fruit (toward the middle) and give it a tug. If it comes out pretty easily, the pineapple is ripe and ready to eat. This little tip hasn’t failed me yet!
Grateful that my market has a self-serve peel and core pineapple machine. 2 for $5 and I'm out the door ready to slice, cube and eat my pineapple.
Thanks for getting out this method so I don't need to.
Well you have helped me out with this video! I was curious about this method. And I won’t be trying it anytime soon now thanks to you !
My first thought was when I saw the viral video...….."hey, that's pretty neat!"). And then, when I saw your effort I thought, ("hmmmm, perhaps I will give this one a pass"). For all you ladies who were worried about breaking a nail, perhaps pliers might the answer.
Tom Hanks needed this video in Cast Away. Eliminates the need for the ice skates!
Ha ha, this reminds me of the video that led me to follow you! Opening a bottle of wine with a shoe. Still funny to watch.
Oh yes. I'll have to bring that one out of retirement and repost it for summer. ;) ~ karen!
My fingernails/fingernail beds hurt from just watching this - I’m sure I would have nails trying to part ways with my fingers, and then the acid from the fruit stinging the open wounds. It looked like a mess to me, too. I love fresh pineapple, but it seemed to need to be too over ripe to do this trick and have it work. Yes, thanks for trying this for us!
Thanks for testing this out—now I won’t have to. And I have all sorts of other things for which I can use the dryer lint analogy.
I was waiting for the moment where the pineapple fights back and spits in your eye or something... well, it always happens like that when I try this kinda thing 😉
Yeah, that looks like a PITA. And I hate handling food I’m trying to eat. I don’t l don’t like peel and eat shrimps (thanks, I’ll peel and clean them in the kitchen, then serve and eat), I don’t like crab you need to dig apart and I prefer pineapple I can cut and eat in a semi-civilized fashion. Why do people get so excited about handling food?
I thought I was the only one! God made knives and forks for a reason people, use them.
Some years ago, ex's job took us to many places in Africa and the middle east. We were graciously invited to people's homes for meals and it's very common for them to dig their fingers into a bowl, wad up some food and put it in your mouth. It's a huge courtesy! And OMG, I don't even want MY fingers in my mouth, let alone someone else's.
GAAAaaaaahhhhhHHH! Yuck!! Guess where I won't be taking a holiday..... *gag*
That there is some juicy cry stuff