How to cut a pineapple the right way. Did you know it was this easy?

Cooktop Cove: How to cut a pineapple the right way. Did you know it was this easy?

By Lia Blanchard

Pineapples are so tasty and the perfect fruit to enjoy on warmer weather days, but they can be a pain to cut up at home if you buy them whole from the grocery store. Luckily, we've got just some easy tips, so you can avoid the heartache in kitchen.

Here's the hard truth: Neither its thick, poky skin nor its tough core can keep pineapple lovers from their beloved fruit. Fortunately, with a sharp knife in hand, neither of those things are really obstacles. Here's how to get around them.

Prepare the fruit

If you don't have a fancy pineapple corer-slicer gadget, all you need is a sharp chef's knife.

Begin by cutting off the crown and the bottom.

It should look like this when you are done:

Then "shave" the rest of the skin off of the sides in downward slices.

At this point, a fully shaved pineapple should look like this:

Remove the eyes of the pineapple a row at a time: align your knife along one row of eyes and slowly cut downward and slanting toward the eyes.

Do the same along the other side of the row, then life out the entire row on a wedge-shaped piece. The eyes aren't very deep, so keep the cuts shallow.

Now that the pineapple is prepared, you can cut it up any way you like.

Rounds

For rounds, turn the pineapple onto its side and slice, making thick cuts all the way through the core.

Use a small cookie or biscuit cutter to remove the core from each slice.

Chunks

Stand the prepared pineapple upright. Make top-to-bottom slices along the core until all of the edible flesh has been removed. Discard core.

Cut each slice into strips, then chunks...

...as large or as small as you like!

Did you know that the pineapple crown can be rooted and grown as a foliage houseplant? Choose a pineapple at the grocery store whose top has interesting leaves. After the crown is removed for eating the fruit, let it sit for a few days before planting in a light soil mix.

Pineapple is a slow-growing plant, and it may take up to eight weeks for roots to be firmly established. Until then, keep the plant in indirect light. Once roots are established, give the plant plenty of direct sunlight and occasional water. They will eventually bloom, but this may take up to three years to occur.