Harvesting Pineapple 🍍

[Mandy Onderwater]

I've harvested my pineapple today! I hope I got it at the right time too. It was yellow and had a lovely pineapple smell surrounding it.
My issue is that it's huge and I don't really know if I should wait a couple days before slicing into it, or even how to slice into it (I don't have one of those fancy pineapple slicers). Also.. how do I store it and how long.

Other than that I'm very exited! It's taken 1,5 years and I grew it from a pineapple top.

Any and all tips are welcome!

 

[DThille]

That looks soooooo much nicer than what we can get in stores here…I can almost feel the juice running down my wrist picking up a piece….

I can’t help with the storage side, but when we buy whole pineapples (and I’m under no illusion they would be nearly as good as a fresh-picked one from the garden), after twisting off the top (which can be replanted), we just use a knife to cut down the sides and remove the skin. We will often cut it into long wedges and once you get it into quarters, you can cut out that portion of the core if you’d like. There’s a lot less waste than if we used a one-size cutter that I’ve seen in stores in this part of the world.

For us, it’s an occasional treat.

She Who Must Be Obeyed planted a couple pineapple tops in pots earlier this year and they are alive…we will soon need to transition them indoors and hopefully we can keep them alive through the winter…we shall see.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

It's absolutely huge (the size of my head) and smells so good. I'm hoping to slice it up today 🤤

 

[JP 1983]

If it smells like a ripe pineapple you dont need to wait any longer.

Chop top and bottom off it, set it standing upright, then cut the peel off top to bottom. Inside you will see it has a round core all the way through the centre. Cut one side of peeled flesh off, avoiding the core, and then progress around the core. Slice those long pieces into smaller chunks. Excess can be put into an airtight container and refrigerated. If its still in your fridge after 5 days there's something wrong with you!

The core can be juiced if you have a proper mechanical juicer or blender. Cut into chunks, blend and strain out the juice. The stem is full of bromelain, a helpful digestive and anti-inflammatory enzyme.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

This is a 1,4L tub, filled to the brim - and that after some heavy snacking whilst cutting!

It was so ridiculously sweet and juicy (there's not even a hint of sour, just slap bang sweet. It's amazing). It actually made cutting super hard! Juices were dripping off of the table and all over as I somehow didn't expect this level of juicy. I may or may not have (very charmingly) sucked the juices right off the table as it got so bad (thankfully I cleaned it beforehand - and after too of course). After that I continued cutting over a oven tray just to be able to keep the juices. Poured that straight into a glass and drank it right up - delicious!

Would I ever grow another pineapple?
The answer is yes. It's ridiculously hardy and withstands both drought and absolute downpour. I fertilised it maybe once or twice with whatever I had leftover, but barely paid attention to it for the most part.
This has been one of the easiest plants I've ever grown, and the only downside is that it took 1,5 years.
I'd grow this anywhere out of the way in full sun, barely pay attention to it. I find the spiky leaves actually somewhat attractive and because they cover quite a bit of ground they were also great at keeping the weeds at bay!

 

[DThille]

That’s where a cutting board designed for a roast with grooves around the edge can be helpful. Thanks for painting the picture…I chuckled. It had that look of a very ripe, juicy specimen. Enjoy.

Perhaps a pineapple daiquiri is in order….

 

[TxArmour12b]

It looks amazing and well worth the wait!! Congrats on the delicious harvest!!

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Thank you! Yes, it was definitely delicious, and very juicy too.

I've got the head of the harvested pineapple rooting now, and the plant that got left behind in the pot is actually sprouting 2 heads. They are multiplying rather well, haha.

 

[Jnel]

If it smells like a ripe pineapple you dont need to wait any longer.

Chop top and bottom off it, set it standing upright, then cut the peel off top to bottom. Inside you will see it has a round core all the way through the centre. Cut one side of peeled flesh off, avoiding the core, and then progress around the core. Slice those long pieces into smaller chunks. Excess can be put into an airtight container and refrigerated. If its still in your fridge after 5 days there's something wrong with you!

The core can be juiced if you have a proper mechanical juicer or blender. Cut into chunks, blend and strain out the juice. The stem is full of bromelain, a helpful digestive and anti-inflammatory enzyme.

or you could eat the core, I do

 

[JP 1983]

or you could eat the core, I do

They can be a bit fibrous, that's all.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

I didn't end up eating the core. Very fibrous and it had an odd taste. It's only after that I heard they do really well stepped in water like a tea

 

[SamfromWA]

I've harvested my pineapple today! I hope I got it at the right time too. It was yellow and had a lovely pineapple smell surrounding it.
My issue is that it's huge and I don't really know if I should wait a couple days before slicing into it, or even how to slice into it (I don't have one of those fancy pineapple slicers). Also.. how do I store it and how long.

Other than that I'm very exited! It's taken 1,5 years and I grew it from a pineapple top.

Any and all tips are welcome! View attachment 7739 View attachment 7738

Looks good, did it produce any seeds, i'm guessing it probably needs a partner of a different type.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

I didn't really check it for seeds to be honest. But the head itself is rooting over a jar of water, and the plant in the pot has produced 2 new heads. So I'm basically growing 3 plants from 1 now

 

[Wedgetail]

Hi Mandy that is awsome pineapple well done .The new heads that are forming on the plant are called pups take a firm hold push down and twist they just pop off let them sit in a shaded spot for a couple of days then put into pots and away they go new pineapple plants you can transplant out later when they start growing some new leaves the mother plant will die as they only produce the one fruit. Looking at your photo of the pineapple you could have picked it a little sooner its nearly over done. Hope this helps .Cheers Dave

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Didn't know there was a thing as overdone with pineapple (except for starting to rot).
The foilage is actually still alive after all this time and it's sprouted a full head against the "stalk" the original pineapple grew against, with a smaller pup below the leaves. Should the pup be a certain size before I repot it? I don't want to accidentally kill it.
Cheers

 

[Wedgetail]

The pups are tough little buggers I let mine get its leaves around the 100mm then pop them off . I find the fruit can go from ripe to what I call over ripe in short time I am not sure if it starts to ferment or what but it developes a not so nice aflavor I pick just a bit before where yours was at and that once cut leaves a few more fridge days with out spoiling this just the way I like to eat them no acid and sweet as. Cheers Dave

 

[SamfromWA]

Didn't know there was a thing as overdone with pineapple (except for starting to rot).
The foilage is actually still alive after all this time and it's sprouted a full head against the "stalk" the original pineapple grew against, with a smaller pup below the leaves. Should the pup be a certain size before I repot it? I don't want to accidentally kill it.
Cheers

I found what i think is a pineapple seed today, just one in the entire pineapple though i'm sure they are easy to miss. About the size and shape of a strawberry seed. Might not have been pollinated possibly causing its small size.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Ah yeah, I probably wouldn't have noticed in that case - if there were any.
I just looked it up and it would need to be pollinated to produce seed. As I only had the one growing it wouldn't have been pollinated. It also read that they can taste less good when they have been pollinated. Mine was huge and absolutely delicious, so I'm not complaining about that. Maybe it was too dry over there? I watered mine tons when it started fruiting and ripening. It grew huge and was ridiculously juicy. I love it and will likely do it this way again when it fruits once more.

 

[Cathy]

My son found what we think is a seed too and I'm going to try and plant it this week.... after the wind dies down

 

[Cathy]

I've always struggled to grow pineapple from a top and was told today to start it in water first so here I go.