How to Dice a Pineapple

When we were first starting to cook for ourselves, knife skills were some of the most daunting things to learn. But we didn't want that to scare us away from knowing how to select and prepare fresh ingredients for our meals- so we just had to jump in and start practicing.

Some important basics before we get started:

• Use a large, sharpened chef's knife. Pineapple is pretty soft and easy to cut, but sharper is always better when chopping and slicing.
• Make sure your hands are clean and dry. This will make it safer and easier to hold the bits that you're cutting away.
• Have some paper towels handy. Fresh pineapple is extra-juicy, and you don't want things sliding around too much on the cutting board, especially when you're holding a sharp object!

Let's get to it!

First step: Shoo away your cat, who is just a little too interested​ in this process.

Lay the pineapple down on its side. Slice off the top part, just below where the leaves branch out from the main fruit. Then, slice off the bottom inch or so.

Begin slicing away strips of the tough outer skin. If you like, use a smaller knife to cut out the brown divots left over. We usually just leave them on- a little extra fiber won't do any harm!

Cut four large slices off from the top down, leaving a 2x2-ish square inch core. This can be thrown away or composted.

Lay the remaining slices down flat, and make long cuts vertically and horizontally.

All done! Store in an airtight container and keep in the fridge. We've found that pineapple keeps for about four days once it's diced up, but eating it fresh on day one is always best.

Got any fun ways you like to use fresh pineapple? Let us know in the comments!

Tags

basics