How To Grill Pineapple For The First Time
If you're preparing a dessert or sweet snack it might feel wrong to start firing up the grill, but if you've got pineapple on hand then that's actually one of your best options. Pineapple is already an amazingly sweet and tangy fruit that serves as the perfect treat on a warm day. It's hard to find a way to improve on it, but by giving it a quick char on the grill you can do just that.
According to Pure Wow, grilling pineapple is a great way to caramelize the abundant sugars in pineapple, and add a layer of smokiness as well. This takes pineapple from being a one-dimensional tropical fruit into an entirely different realm. Once it's been grilled it can be enjoyed as a snack, dessert, go into a smoky sweet salsa, or get served along with your favorite grilled meats.
If you really want to shake things up you can also add other flavors to your pineapple while it's on the grill. Adding salt or hot sauce can bring out even more layers of flavor in your pineapple. Any pineapple lover that tries this trick will certainly have a hard time going back to eating plain pineapple once they give it a try.
How to prepare a pineapple
One of the most intimidating aspects of working with pineapple — besides choosing the right pineapple — is how to properly slice one. Its a fruit that is covered with all sorts of scales and leaves, and even once you get to the inside, you have to remove the core before you get to enjoy the fruit. It's actually much more simple than it appears, but you should keep a garbage bowl on hand because there will be a lot of scraps.
Start by chopping off the top and bottom of the pineapple. Then stand it vertically, and carefully cut off the sides by slicing toward the base with your knife, and trying to save as much flesh as possible. Once the sides have been removed, you may need to take a paring knife to remove any small brown eyelets that you missed.
From there, you'll need to decide if you want spears or rings. Both work well for grilling; it's just a matter of preference. To cut the pineapple into spears, keep it standing and cut down the entire pineapple's length twice to cut it into quarters. Then, cut the core off of the inside of these sections, and divide them lengthwise again to have spears.
If you want rings, lay the pineapple on its side and cut it into half-inch wide sections. Use a round cookie cutter to remove the inner core, and you're finished.
How to grill pineapple
While you're cutting your pineapple into your desired shapes, you can start heating your grill on high. Once your pineapple is ready, grease the grill with a little oil, and place your pineapple on the grill. It should only take about two or three minutes on each side to start caramelizing the sugars and get a good char of grill marks on the pineapple. Take it off the grill, and it's ready to eat.
You can also spice it up beforehand by using a simple glaze. Just combine melted butter with spices or flavoring agents like cinnamon, brown sugar, chili powder, hot sauce, or honey to create a truly spectacular grilled pineapple. If you're looking for a little bit of sunshine in the winter months, and want to do this inside, it works great on cast iron pans and stove-top griddles as well.
This recipe is a quick and easy way to create a memorable fruity snack, and is a great starting point for grilling other fruits and vegetables, since it's the perfect technique for deepening the flavor of everyday foods.