The perfect moment: how to recognise a ripe pineapple

Do you trust your nose? Does the skin have to be nice and yellow or do the spikes mean something? How do you know when a pineapple is perfectly ripe? Here are our four best tips:

1. A question of colour

Did you know that a pineapple does not continue to ripen once it has been harvested? So it’s particularly important to grab the right pineapple in the supermarket to make sure you enjoy its full sweetness. The colour of the skin is not necessarily a sign that a pineapple is perfectly ripe. But if the skin yields slightly when you press on it, that’s the time to pounce and buy the tropical fruit.

2. Roundness is also a factor

The individual spikes on the skin are another important clue: the flatter the bulge, the riper the pineapple. As in all things, a happy medium in terms of roundness is ideal – not unripe, not overripe. Perfect!

3. Knock knock!

And if you can distinguish between a dull, muffled sound and a hollow sound, simply knock on the pineapple. If you hear a dull, muffled sound, it means there is still a lot of water in the flesh and the quality of the pineapple is excellent.

4. Sweet scent

Finally, take a look at the bottom of the pineapple and have a sniff. If it smells slightly sweet, you are on the right track. However, it should not be too intensely sweet as that means that fermentation has started.

By the way ... the widely held belief that you can tell how ripe a pineapple is by pulling out the crown leaves is a myth!

Have you found a sweet pineapple? Then cut off the crown, remove the skin and stalk, cut into longish pieces and enjoy.

 

Mmmm ...

Your Dole Team