I love pineapples.
But ever since I moved to California I longingly crave for fresh Philippine pineapples every now and then. Of course there are Hawaiian pineapples readily available and the canned ones are absolutely not bad at all but sometimes I miss those sweet golden pineapples freshly picked from the farm and peeled and cut at home. They are the sweetest. And if they’re a little too tart I sprinkle some salt and pucker up with delight.
Cutting a fresh pineapple isn’t just simply cutting the top and the bottom and cutting the peel away. I remember how my mom cuts and peels pineapples gingerly in her kitchen. She was more like sculpting than simply cutting the fruit.
So how do you peel and cut a fresh pineapple?
Using a good chef’s knife, start by cutting the top and then the bottom off.
Let the pineapple stand with the bottom flat on the cutting board. Hold the top and cut the peel away from the top down. Most people would cut too much of the fruit away to get remove the “eyes” of the pineapple. But there’s a better way to sculpt the “eyes” off and keep as much of the fruit intact as possible so don’t get too worried if most of the “eyes” remain.
Using a paring knife, cut out the “eyes” in a shallow v-shape trench that spirals around the pineapple.
The result is a beautifully sculpted fruit. Slice the pineapple crosswise into discs and cut the core using a paring knife or a corer to form pineapple rings.
Or slice them lengthwise into quarters, then cut off the core, and cut each section crosswise into thin slices or thicker chunks.
I am a pembroke-welsh-corgi-belly-rubbing, honkey-nerd-loving, fried-chicken-eating thirty-something scientist, chemical engineer, digital photographer, graphic and web designer and writer. 
I admire your patience (and the gold old Filipino ‘artistry’ I suppose). Isn’t it funny how that ’style’ of peeling the pineapple is so Pinoy? Most if not all American cooking shows I’ve seen just peel and chop away and there’s hardly no pineapple left, haha! Anyway, I’ll try to be more diligent next time. Thanks for sharing!
effort! pero nung bata ako aliw na aliw ako pinapanood yung pagtatalop ng pinya, parang talent sya to the highest level sa utak ko noon. i dont eat pinyapples, though!
When my Tita visited me last year, she took the time to teach me how to properly carve a pineapple. So time consuming, but absolutely beautiful and with minimal waste! It truly exemplifies the Filipino way!
Beautiful photos!
That was a great photo tutorial. Thanks. I will have to point it out to a few of my friends.
I learned how to cut pineapple like this in Papua New Guinea when I lived there, it seemed like such a sensible way to do it. Much less loss of the fruit.
I love the decorative part of cutting the pineapple. I do it the boring way, but I will try this out next time. Thank you for the process photos.