Wednesday, January 20, 2010

To Eat, or Not to Eat?

Judy announces that Aldi has pineapples on sale for 99-cents each. The mind boggles a bit at the idea of a fresh pineapple for 99 cents. Judy announces that she is going to buy one. Because there is no point in two of us driving 50 miles round trip to go to Aldi to buy a pineapple, I give her $1 and ask her to please buy me one.

She does and hands me the pineapple on Friday when we meet up at aerobics.

The pineapple comes home with me and I sit it on the counter and eyeball it.



Pineapples have eyes. They stare back at me.




I am not actually sure how to tell if a pineapple is ripe.

It sits there for several days. I am reluctant to cut it open. What if it is not ripe?

This fellow usually shows up at my house for a while each day, and if anybody would know if a pineapple is ripe, he should, because after all he lives in one under the sea....




but he isn't telling.

So I fire off an urgent e-mail to my precious cousin who lives on the Island of Hawaii to ask her how to tell if the pineapple is ripe. I get her answer on Monday...

Pineapples with any green on them tells me that they are not ripe yet. In the past I have tried to help a friend in Colorado with this very subject and realized that I am not the greatest source. Our pineapples are allowed to ripen on the plant and I actually gave her wrong information. So, I went on the Internet and did a copy/paste for you to help out. I am so afraid that our way of checking this out will cause yours to spoil and that would be a shame.
So I read through the advice she found and decided to let the pineapple sit another day or two.

Today I received an e-mail from Judy in which she expresses some disappointment in the two pineapples she bought for herself.

It had white parts in it that didn't taste very good. I cut those parts out and the rest was pretty good. I cut the second one this evening and it was the same. We have not had this experience with pineapple we've had in the past. I hope yours was OK...

Well, at the time, I did not know if mine was OK because I have not opened yet. So I took another close look at the pineapple and...



decide it is mostly not green and that it's now or never....



I made a good choice. It is juicy, and sweet, and very good.

7 comments:

Oklahoma Granny said...

There's nothing like fresh pineapple. I have always wondered how to tell if the ones in the store are ripe or if they need to sit a few days. So glad you got a good one!

The Weaver of Grass said...

It is a bit like that with melons, too - you really can't tell from the outside. And haven't you sometimes had oranges which look delightful but when they are peeled turn out to be very sour or very dry. Rather like people, I suppose, you can't always tell what they are like from first impressions.

Smurfy turf said...

What a beautiful pineapple and I am glad to know that it was a sweet tasting one.
If I had told you to wait until it turned totally yellow, it certainly would have spoiled. Enjoy every little bite of it.
Aloha from the Big Island.

Lil Sis said...

yummo - mouth watering!

Cloudia said...

Parts of Oahu used to smell like pineapple: near the cannery and up in the fields....think of Hawaii friends, Lei


Aloha, Friend!


Comfort Spiral

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

We have lovely pineapples in Australia, grown in the state of Queensland here. A good way to know if they are ripe, apart from smell, is to pull a leaf out of the top. It should come away without much effort if the pineapple is ripe enough to eat.