With a spiky rind encasing the sweet, yellow fruit, there is seemingly no efficient means of eating the tropical treat without making an absolute mess.
Thats why people were shocked when a recent video depicted someone pulling perfect, complete chunks of pineapple out of the rind without a knife and with relative ease.
The video, which was initially posted by TikTok user @dillonroberts22, quickly went viral across multiple social-media platforms and left many commenters questioning how they had gone so long without knowing about the pineapple-eating hack. Advertisement
As it turns out, theres a pretty logical reason behind why this method actually works. As a 2014 article from the Huffington Post points out, pineapples grow as individual berries, or “fruitlets,” that fuse together to form the core of the fruit as the plant matures. So, in theory, pulling the chunks of fruit away as demonstrated in the video makes much more sense than hacking away at the rind. But in practice, I suspected that it may be more complicated.
The video looked too good to be true, so I decided to test the pineapple hack myself
I ventured out to my nearest grocery store to find a pineapple. I had done some research prior to my expedition and read that using a ripe pineapple would produce the best results, but most of the pineapples at my supermarket of choice did not appear to have reached full maturity.
Still, I plucked the softest, most yellow, and sweet-smelling pineapple from the bunch and headed for the checkout line. Advertisement
I had also read that, in addition to selecting a particularly ripe pineapple, rolling the fruit along a hard, flat surface could potentially help loosen the fibers and allow the pineapple fruitlets to separate more easily. I gave that a try — much to the amusement of my coworkers in the office kitchen — and then set about actually starting the experiment.
To me, the real mystery of this entire pineapple-peeling hack was how to begin
Every video I had seen depicted someone pulling fruitlets from the core, but none showed how to remove the leaves and break through the pineapples spiny exterior in the first place. Needless to say, I wasnt exactly sure where to start.
I eventually settled on removing the leaves first. I gripped the body of the pineapple and twisted the leaves off the top, which was surprisingly difficult to do. Eventually, the leaves popped off, but I was left with a pineapple that was fully intact and had no means of reaching the fruit inside.
After making a fruitless attempt at tearing bits of the pineapple away with my bare hands, I resigned to using a knife to get myself started. I sliced along the top of the pineapple, making sure to cut into the spaces between the fruitlets rather than through the fruitlets themselves. Advertisement
Unfortunately, the top of my pineapple was still rather green, so the fruitlets were a bit stubborn about pulling apart. The further down the pineapple I moved, however, the more yellow the fruitlets became and the more easily I was able to pry chunks of fruits from the rind.
However, even when I was working with the ripest part of the pineapple, I had to fight a bit to remove the fruitlets from the core. My pineapple pulling was most effective when I dug my nail under the fruitlet and tried to prop it loose from the core. The hack definitely “worked” in the sense that it was possible to pull chunks of pineapple out without using a knife to cut it free, but it certainly wasnt a seamless process.
No Knife Pineapple Hack (how to pull apart a pineapple & correctly eat it) Clean & Delicious!
FAQ
Why do I feel weird after eating pineapple?
How to do the tiktok pineapple trend?
What is the pineapple challenge?
What does pineapple do to your body?
Did you know this about pineapples?
Firstly… some interesting pineapple history that I bet (most) of you didn’t know (unless you have read a pineapple history or listened to series one, episode two of the podcast ‘The museum of curiosity’ *). The pineapple was originally from Brazil (though there are different varieties from elsewhere).
Does pineapple have bacteria in it?
Yes, pineapple does have bacteria in it. The pathogenic bacteria species in pineapple is called Ananas comosus Merr. If this does enter the body, then it can multiply and lead to infection.
Does the pineapple trick work?
Tried out the #pineapplehack for myself and can confirm that it works, but you need quite a ripe pineapple, and consider rolling it across the bench first to loosen the fibres. ♀️ pic.twitter.com/YgdC3v5GRR And, of course, some jokesters also poked fun at the trend over the weekend: The pineapple trick don’t work! pic.twitter.com/EiybTaPrFP
Why are pineapples pulled apart so easily?
One potential explanation for why pineapples can sometimes be pulled apart so easily is that they are, in fact, something we call ‘multiple fruits’. A multiple fruit, such as a pineapple or a fig, is the result of a fusion of individual ‘fruitlets’ on a single stalk meaning they can then be separated when ripened.