All Pineapple All the Time

Would love to see pineapple info here. When are pineapples ripe? What is the pineapple season....when is the best time to buy? What is the best kind of knife to cut a pineapple?

The Dole Pineapples we get here in our Stupidmarkets come with a tag on them with complete cutting instructions. I use a sharp 8" Chef's knife to cut off the top and bottom and a boning knife for the coring and slicing off of the outer skin and continue with the chef's knife to cut chunks or long slices or whatever.
You can find in gourmet kitchen gadget stores a device to pretty much core and 'skin' a pineapple in one swell foop! But where's the adventure in that?

I remember . . . . back in the days when "Francis Langford's Outrigger" was still in operation here, you could get pineapples cored,skinned,ringed and stacked in their own juice in plastic bags at the local Publix for $1.79 each!

On 2007-01-05 07:24, GentleHangman wrote:
You can find in gourmet kitchen gadget stores a device to pretty much core and 'skin' a pineapple in one swell foop! But where's the adventure in that?

The cool thing about them is you can serve a drink in the hollow pineapple after you get the fruit.

I good drink in a hollow pineapple is always an adventure.

You mean like these?:

At Trader Vic's Tokyo

Or - the home version made with one of those fancy corers.....

But you have to keep the cats away from them - EEK!

Kitty looks hammered :) I remember my first BooLoo.

Vampiress If you just want to filet a pineapple for wedges and garnish size pieces there's a nifty little pineapple knife that doesn't cost much. It's shaped concave and serrated. It works great. Once picked pineapples don't really get any riper or sweeter just less fresh so get one that looks like it just got picked. Squishy ones have been sitting around. I'm pretty sure in Hawaii they're grown year round, but not for much longer. Not sure about Mexico or central America

Thanks for all the great info. So, if you cut the top and bottom off the pineapple and core it.....how do you serve a drink in it? Do you put a glass inside it?

was googling.....and gheeeez this one is a little expensive!!!

http://www.comforthouse.com/profsercook.html

Is this the device that cores and leaves the bottom intact for the pineapple (to use as a tropical drink vessel)?

http://www.amazon.com/Vacu-Vin-Inc-4882250-Pineapple/dp/B0000DE4FZ/sr=8-2/qid=1168050560/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-4928746-6648919?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden

The Amazon.com one is the one I have - works like a charm.
No glass needed!
After you core it with the corer, just put a bunch of ice in there & pour in your fabulously mixed drink (probably a double....pineapples are big...). cut a hole in the top for a straw, put the top back on & enjoy.
Yummm....makes me wish it were warm enough to enjoy one out on the deck - only 5-6 more months to wait for that - Ugh!

http://www.rampantscotland.com/visit/blvisitdunmore.htm

A Pineapple styled house in Scotland built back when having a tropical fruit was like having the Rolling Stones at your house.

When we think of explorers charting the vast Pacific, we think of fights, feasts frolic and fornication; islands, jungles, animals, plants and spices awaited men stuck at sea together for months or even years. We think of pineapples as part of these tropical Polynesian feasts, however, sadly, the Pineapples weren't there.

The availability of Pineapple has made it easy to over look this splendid morsel, but it has not always been this way. Until recently Pineapples were objects of such excitement, that most people in the world would be very lucky to see one in their entire lives.

We know from the presence of certain fruit-specific pests and by its depiction in indigenous stone carvings, that the origin of the pineapple is someplace in present day Paraguay or Brazil.

The Indians of the northern part of South America cultivated and traded the fruit for several hundred years all over the Caribbean from small dugout canoes.
Columbus didn’t “discover” the pineapple, anymore than he “discovered” America…but he certainly popularized both. His description of this fruit from his second voyage to the Caribbean (also the home of Rum, Pineapple’s frequent sidekick) was almost unbelievable.

Legend has it that in 1493, Columbus and his men stumbled onto the Pineapple as they snuck into a vacant Carib Indian village on what’s now called Guadalupe Island. Here they found the fruit in stacks next to piles of butchered human parts, boiling in pots. Thus was launched the legend of the Pineapple to the rest of the world. It epitomized absolute joy that it could be to eat something spectacular, particularly in contrast with being eaten trying to acquire it.

Magellan, who found pineapples in Brazil in 1519 underlined the incredible taste and sweetness of this fruit. In a short 50 years, legend of the pineapple made them more valuable than gold or money in Europe, America, Africa and India.

It’s hard to imagine the impact of such a thing at a time when sugar as we know it and sweets in general simply didn’t exist.
Pineapples are actually not a single fruit, but between 100 and 200 separate flowers which swell up in a cluster, fill with juice and pulp and become the actual fruit we think of.

Sailors have long been known to plant the seeds of many exotic things including themselves, in all corners of the globe…the pineapple was no exception. For the next 200 years after it’s “discovery” sailors profligated the pineapple in every place it seemed likely to grow. This was done in part to help battle scurvy and just to spread such an exotic and wonderful food to where they might themselves revisit. Some cultures then adopted the pineapple plant as a barrier and used its spiny leaves to quell intruders around villages. They made carvings of the fruit at gates and doors.

Later the pineapple came to symbolize the most prized of all foods, and the symbol of abundance. (Cook actually brought the Pineapple to the Pacific in 1777). The Hawaiian word for pineapple is halakahihi, which means “foreign fruit."
In the more developed world, the pineapple’s rarity made it the symbol of the highest ranks of hospitality, influence, wealth and prosperity.

In Colonial America, the pineapple was closer to its source but it was still incredibly difficult to acquire. Sweltering sailing ships hauled cargos of fruit which became so rotten that it often all had to be thrown overboard before reaching port

Entertainment in those times revolved around meals and company, thus having a pineapple on one’s table, even if only as a centerpiece for guests to view, insured a host the highest esteem. Dining rooms were arranged and doors closed to keep guests in suspense until the unveiling of a host’s display of nature’s bounty. The pinnacle to the meal and festivities would be a pineapple, usually rented by the day from a grocer and displayed like a crown jewel showing guests that the host spared no expense or trouble on them.

Louis the XIV raved about their incredible flavor. Not thinking to trim the husks off, he once was cut devouring one. In 1670, England’s Charles II commissioned a portrait of himself receiving a pineapple as a gift. King Charles V, of Spain refused to touch one for fear suffering lacerations.

In places like Scotland, Russia, Holland and Sweden people built and heated tiny greenhouses in hopes of cultivating the Rock Star that was the pineapple. George Washington commented that pineapples were the most prized discovery of the tropical world.

Sea Captains would try to bring a pineapple home with them, placing it in a window or on a staff in the front of the house as a symbol that the man of the house had returned.

In the Victorian Era, tropical plants were all the rage. Progress in science, trade and standards of living shrank the globe. Pineapple’s availability was greater, but its demand was unquenchable. The pineapple was seen everywhere; paintings, silks, gates, furniture, advertising, architecture, ironwork, tin ceilings, decorations and china. To the Industrial Revolution’s slowly emerging middle class, it symbolized a brief encounter with far away paradise.

The middle class loved the pineapple and by the 1800s, whimsically-styled pineapples were everywhere. Cakes shaped like pineapples and molded gelatins shaped like pineapples were offerings affordable to most, though most often without the difficult to transport actual fruit. (Ironically the enzyme in the pineapple which is so beneficial to digestion, ruins the ability of gelatin to set)

In the 1880s Englishman John Kidwell perfected the canning of pineapple in Hawaii, but the US Government demanded such a high tariff, that it was unfeasible as a business venture. A year later, the tariffs were changed and a man named James Drummond Dole went to Hawaii with $1000.00, and built a multi-million dollar empire on pineapple.

Pineapples are "Bromeliads," and are the only edible species of that family.
Bromelain, the enzyme found in Pineapple tenderizes meat, is a natural food preservative, treats arthritis and decomposes gels used in photography so silver can be recovered.
While it may no longer have longer nine-car-pile-up celebrity status at parties, it is now used as one of the key ingredients in “Natural Male Enhancers” and is used by breweries for keeping proteins from clouding when the beer is chilled. The unmistakable pineapple continues to be one of man’s most intimate friends.

Wow....that was a very interesting read....thanks. :tiki:

I'm off to buy the pineapple coring tool. :)

You can also plant the pineapple tops as they make a great tiki plant, and you can grow your own fruit in the right climate.
Also, pineapples do not continue to ripen so I pick mine carefully looking for the golden ones that are more ripe. Nothing like ripe pineapple for a real Mai Tai.
Don the Beachcomber had his guys use piano wire to hollow them out for drinks, still trying to fiqure that out but the one from Amazon works perfect for making a drink vessel.
(Vampiress, I'm willing to bet that Tiki Ti's Blood & Sand drink is one of you favorites, right?)
Good luck with your Bromiliads

[ Edited by: Ojaitimo 2007-01-06 07:12 ]

Oh yeah....I have heard of planting the tops.....thanks for the reminder. I googled how to grow a pineapple plant and found the following, which I might give a try.

You can definitely start your own plant from the top of a store-bought pineapple. I would recommend starting with an organically grown pineapple, because it's likely to contain less chemical residues that could interfere with growth.

All you need to do to start is to grab the pineapple by the crown and twist off the top. A small portion of the stalk will remain attached. Let this piece dry out for a few days before you plant it to help prevent decay. After the crown has "cured", you'll want to strip the lower 1 inch of the stalk of its leaves or they'll rot when covered with dirt.

Fill a 6-inch pot with 2 parts potting mix and 1 part perlite (or peat moss). Place the crown piece on top of the soil mix and place it in a location with bright (not direct) sunlight (at least 5-6 hours per day). If you plant the stalk in the pot at an angle, so only part of it touches the soil, there is less chance of the stalk rotting. However, this is not necessary. Dipping the stalk-end in rooting hormone first is also optional. Keep the soil moist by misting it with water. You may want to cover the pot with a plastic bag to conserve moisture. Be patient. The stalk may root in as little as 2 to 3 weeks, but you may have to wait for several months before you see signs of new growth. Once you do, repot the rooted crown into a 1-gallon container filled with a well-drained growing medium.

Start fertilizing the crown once a month during the active growing season. Keep the pot outdoors during the summer and bring it inside for the winter. The crown should stay in this gallon-size pot for at least 1 year. After that you can move the plant to a 5-gallon container filled with well-drained soil and a bit of compost or well-rotted manure. Always keep the soil moist, but not wet. After yet another season (a total of 2 to 3 years time since planting), watch for small blue flowers. Three to 4 months after they appear you should have a pineapple.

Patience is the key to successfully growing a pineapple plant. It often takes two years or more for a plant to bear fruit in peak growing conditions. The pineapple is a tropical plant so it can be severely damaged by freezing temperatures. During the summer months, the plant can be placed outdoors without too much worry. During the winter, keep the plant indoors near a sunny window. Water the soil lightly once a week.

Many people have had success with a pineapple house plant. One of the biggest problems is getting the plant to produce fruit. If the plant is two years old and has not flowered (the flower precedes the fruit), you can force fruit the plant by putting the plant and pot into a plastic bag with an apple. Move the bag to a shady spot and leaves it for three or four days.

Put the plant back in the sun. After a few months, a red cone should appear followed by blue flowers and eventually a fruit. It takes about six months for the fruit to fully develop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today I ate at Chevys and had the Prickly Pear Margarita....my favorite there.  
**Prickly Pear**  
Prickly pear juice, Sauza Hornitos Reposado and Tuaca

I have something sort of like this...

that I use on my pineapples. Mine has wires that criss-cross at the bottom so when you pull out the meat of the fruit you get a completly hollow shell suitable for drinking from. You cut the top, push the tool straight down, twist half-way and pull up. You get the fruit in 6 easy spears and a hollow pineapple shell ready for serving.

As for the tops, here is a picture of my first planting three years ago. This plant is one year old as of the photo, and at the very center of the plant is the beginning of the flower crown.

This plant set one of the biggest, sweetest pineapples I have ever had the pleasure of eating. It then set out pups so that I now have about 8 plants in the front yard. This year I hope to have fruit on all of them.

Hmmmm. I'm leery of any kitchen cutting tool that's made of plastic. I would think metal is the way to go. Chip, where did you buy yours?

Here we go, something about some pictures and words and some big number.....

Push it straight down through the fruit and then twist. Nice clean wedges come out, cut the core out and your good to go.

The Mai Kai has the same kind of tool in a few different sizes to handle the different grade fruit.

Now, where to get one.... I don't know. It was a gift. I would suggest eBay since everything I find new are made of plastic.

This is what we use at Forbidden Island and I just can't recommend it more highly...

Excellent. Thank you both. Just ordered the Vacuvin. Bring on the pineapples!

By the way... is it good for crushing buckeyes? Oh wait, all you have to do is look at buckeyes really scary and they just fall apart.

[ Edited by: GatorRob 2007-01-09 09:42 ]

Yes...thanks to all....I just got Vacuvin in the mail. If I can ever get a free weekend to myself...gonna try it out and enjoy a Mai Tai ala pineapple beverage container!!!

Just a few other pineapple thingys here...for fun.
http://www.perfumelamp.com/lamps.html
http://www.essentialoils-online.com/pineapple_perfume.html
http://www.nextag.com/Rasta-Imposta-Adult-Pineapple-512610374/prices-html
http://www.scentsandsprays.com/yapipacarjar.html

OK...enough torture for now. :D

A friend sent me this jpeg today. It's a Hellman's Mayonnaise ad from 1961 (she found it at Retro-Ads.net):

I think it would make a pretty awesome centerpiece at a luau or party or whatever. Here's the text of the "recipe":

1. Use one big pineapple for the chest. Cut on all four sides to make a rectangular shape (about 7" x 3" x 3").
2. Shallowly scoop out centre of 'chest'.
3. Reserve curved top slice with peel intact for treasure chest lid.
4. Peel remaining shell, re-cover sides of chest, attaching shell with toothpicks.
5. Prop lid on chest with toothpicks.
6. Fill chest with fresh fruit cut like jewels - strawberry garnets, cherry rubies, banana rings, pineapple nuggets, jade and gold melon balls, necklaces of berries, grapes.
7. Gild salad with Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise..."

I say "recipe" in quotes because the instructions seem to be the fiction of an ad copy writer. Clearly a pineapple shell was applied to an actual box with hinged lid, probably by an art director with a hot glue gun (or whatever they used back in 1961).

I would love to see someone attempt this.

On 2007-01-05 18:21, VampiressRN wrote:
Thanks for all the great info. So, if you cut the top and bottom off the pineapple and core it.....how do you serve a drink in it? Do you put a glass inside it?

You just cut off the top and then use the corer you posted a pic of and turn it around until you almost reach the bottom but make sure you don`t go so deep you get a hole in the bottom.

Then i use a knife to cut off the core and voila you have a drinking vessel. No need to put any glass in it.

For pineapples i use my chefs knife, works just fine.

Got a pineapple yesterday
I'm going to try and plant the top inside mu bar
Wouldn't last long outside here in Vegas

Jon