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When you're raring to whip up a pineapple upside-down pound cake or pineapple salsa recipe, you might grab the fruit from the store without checking its ripeness first. But underripe pineapple is hard and sour, and won't deliver the right results in many recipes. To help you use this tropical beauty the right way, Food Network star Alex Guarnaschelli took to TikTok to share some top tips, including one of the simplest ways to tell if a pineapple is ripe inside.
Guarnaschelli instructs to sniff the bottom of the pineapple for a fruity scent. A perfectly ripe fruit should hit your nostrils with a deeply sweet, tropical aroma. If you smell nothing or only a faint whiff, put it back in the supermarket bin. On the other hand, if your pineapple smells sour, almost like vinegar, chances are it's old and overripe. If you take steps to tell if your pineapple is bad and find that it's still edible, it will be better in cooked or pureed applications, like pineapple jam and smoothies.
If you've already bought an underripe pineapple, you might have to sweeten it with sugar and/or cook it to intensify the flavor. Contrary to popular belief, pineapples do not ripen after they're picked — the flesh may get softer or the skin might change color, but it's not going to get sweeter. This makes Guarnaschelli's advice even more important when it's shopping time.
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Look for these other signs to gauge the ripeness of a pineapple
With pineapples, scent is a more reliable indication of ripeness than color, but ripe fruit tends to have yellow skin. Some patches of green are fine, but avoid entirely green fruit that's obviously underripe, or skin that is a deep yellow or orange from top to bottom. The latter is another sign that it's past its prime. Even better, try lightly squeezing or pressing on the skin. A ripe pineapple will still be firm, but rock-hardness is a sign of underripe flesh.
Pineapples are pretty heavy as far as fruits go, but the sweetest ones will be even heavier than you expect for their size. That weightiness means that the flesh is full of juice. Another neat trick is to gently tug at one of the leaves on the top and see if it comes off right away. If it stubbornly hangs on, the pineapple isn't ready.
Even after you get a prime specimen on your hands, you might still need some tips for working with pineapple. In her TikTok video, Guarnaschelli demonstrates a nice, efficient way to cut this tricky fruit using a knife, but there are other ways to cut a pineapple if you want perfect rings or wedges for a cocktail garnish. From there, enjoy the fruit however you like, and don't forget about the sweet way to use your leftover pineapple core: Making a delicious syrup.
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Read the original article on Tasting Table.
