By Shakira Williams, LSU AgCenter

There are a couple of different strategies to peel and prepare a pineapple. For quartered pineapple slices, slice off the crown and the bottom of the fruit.

Step 1: Quarter the pineapple lengthwise. Stand the sections up and slice downward to remove the tip, which is a hard tough core.

Step 2: Slice the pineapple into thin slices before running a knife under the slices to remove them from the tough skin.

Step 3: Or remove the fruit in one piece with a flexible knife or grapefruit knife.

Step 4: For round slices, use a cook’s knife to cut off the rind in large panels. Follow the natural curve of the fruit. Use a paring knife, tip of a peeler or a small melon ball scoop to remove any “eyes” left in the fruit.

Step 5: Press a pineapple corer through the fruit, if you have one. If you don’t have this special tool, slice the pineapple into rounds and either core out with a knife or punch it out with an apple corer or small cookie cutter.

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