Dumb Question: How Can You Tell When A Pineapple Is Ripe?

uh, smell? i usually go by that. and that the skin is more yellow than green. But probably tropics-living people will tell me that i've never eaten a ripe pineapple.

First of all it isn't a dumb question. You don't know it till you know it!

I agree with Siduri; smell is the first thing i go for. It should smell like - well - a pineapple, fruity and sweet. Feel it too. If it is squishy in places it is beginning to spoil and there will be a lot of waste as you cut away the bad bits.

I might be wrong here but I think the pineapple is one of those fruits which do not continue to ripen after they have been picked. So you should try to find out where it came from and if it is a reputable producer.

I was talking to a Hawaiian the other day who says that Pineapples are no longer a major product on the islands. Dole is winding it's operation down in that part of the world. Most of our pineapples come from South America these days.

Jock

what usualy works for me is to pull a leaf from the last to next last row,if it pulls out easily it is probably ripe.I have never been aproched by anyone in the store for this practice...good cookin...cookie

That's what I was always taught, Cookie. And it's never failed me.

Ditto Cookie and KYH - I don't think they ripen once picked either, need to source them from as close by as possible I guess when they're seasonal in that area

Jim is right.

I've always pulled a leaf too. I found that works well.

I think when you rely on the smell alone, it might be overly ripe.

Pick a single leaf towards the middle of the pineapple and try pulling on it. If it releases with little effort the pineapple is ripe. It's an old trick from an old Puerto Rican man I know. Stick with golden pineapples and I promise you won't have any problems with it being under ripe.

Check out my website chefbyvideo.com for 8 free videos of common kitchen mistakes cooks make.

Pulling the leaf is good, however i suggest you also smell it. I had a pineapple once that released the leaves easily, but they smelled moldy. The pineapple was rotten! beware. pull and smell.

Ahhh What the heck. I'll try this one.

I had always been taught the leaf thing as most of ya'll have stated. That was until I went to Hawaii. We visited a pineapple plantation on our Honeymoon on the Island of Lānaʻi. There we were told that the ripeness was determined by striking the bottom of the pineapple with your open palm and if the top fell off it was ripe.
I can't personally dismiss nor approve this as the "one tried and true method" to determine such but it has proven to be more acurate than the leaf. Then again if you compare the pineapples we are sold/served here in the states to those that are served in Hawaii........ We have never experienced even close to ripe.

thxs.

Yes I have always pulled the very top leaf out and the pineapple has always been ripe and juicy.

 

Pulling out center top leaf, by smelling the bottom, it should smell  like a pineapple unripe ones don't emit as strong an odor.

 If by chance you peelit and it is not  then cube it put in plastic bag add about 2 t gran sugar toss it around then freeze. When you thaw it will be delicious.

The biggest problem with pineapples is that they do not continue ripening once harvested. They merely rot. And, unfortunately, they smell most pineappley after that process has started.

 

Pulling the leaves (and, the way I was taught, you try the second row, not the middle) will tell you if the pineapple is not ripe. It should release easily, without a lot of pressure. If that happens, the fruit will either be ripe or past ripe. And, unless you use a lot of pineapples, it's hard to tell which is which just by smelling.

I've read that the pulling leaf is just a myth but first just want to say hello... (smiling and waving)

The color has nothing to do with ripeness either.

The easiest way to tell if a pineapple is ripe is to look at the rings on its body. If they are all the same size, you have a ripe and sweet pineapple! Since using this method, I've never had a sour or unripe one.

Rachel Ray is responsible for this bit of pineapple inside information and it works.

Smell the sweetnes. The same for melons.

OT, but you can grow a pineapple plant from the top of a fresh one.  When you cut it off, don't leave too much flesh and just tuck into a pot of soil.  My Dad had a plant he started this way... had it for YEARS and I just didn't have the heart to leave it behind when we cleaned out his house after he died.  Hauled it from SE PA to NJ, where it lived happily indorrs during cold weather and out on my deck during the late spring-summer.  After several YEARS, I noticed this teeny mini-pineapple starting to come up out of the center.  Was maybe the size of an egg when I first noticed it in Dec/Jan one year.  By the tiime it was warm enough to go outside, was about the size of a small orange.  When the stem it was on top of started bending, I cut it off... about the size of a regular orange.  It was hard as a ROCK, but filled the whole house with a n amazing pineapple smell.  It sat on counter for several days until it started to have a little give.  Never really expected to be able to eat it, but it was incredibly sweet and even the mini-core was tender.

Also OT...

I am a regular in the fruit/veg department at our local Sam's.

About 6 wks ago they had some gorgeous peaches (by the case of 10).

Took me almost an hour to fill my box (yes, I also cherry pick from the pre packed grapes).

Feeling the heft, cradling and smelling, a gentle touch on the bottom, checking for bruising (I guess some people don't get the term gentle).

I have not had a proper fresh peach in a couple of years and I was in heaven!

Anyway... while choosing my fruit had a few shoppers ask how to tell if something would taste good.

We looked at peaches, a few melons, bananas.

The pineapple gave me a pause, but one of my "students" subscribed to the pull leaf theory.

I let him pick out a couple for me and he was spot on.

So pull the leaf.

Yes smell is number one and pulling is a time honored method.

They may not ripen once picked but they seem to get sweeter over time.  Just my observation.