Look For This One Feature When Choosing A Pineapple

It can be hard to keep track of all those tips and tricks to find the ripest fruit that you've picked up over the years. You might remember how a quick sniff of cantaloupe can tell you if the produce is ready to eat, how knocking on a honeydew is the telltale sign to determine whether your melon is ripe, or that the best peaches should be slightly soft when squeezed. When it comes to pineapples, there are a few ways to tell when you'll get the sweetest bite. But, to keep things super simple, the ultimate tip is to keep your eyes on the pineapple's eyes.

When we talk about a pineapple's eyes, we're referring to those hexagonal bumps on the skin of the fruit. If the eyes are flat and puckered, and the little spikes on the sides of the pineapple are too pointy, you're most likely picking up an unripe fruit. Instead, look for a pineapple with eyes that appear wider and plumper, and feel softer to the touch as this will indicate that the pineapple is ripe and prime for eating. Color also plays an important role, as darker green eyes indicate a bitter fruit, whereas vibrant yellow eyes mean that the fruit will taste sweeter. Smelling the bottom of your pineapple isn't a bad idea, either.

Pineapples are a species of shrub from the Bromeliaceae family. When the plant is ready to produce fruit, it shoots up a stalk that's suitable to carry the heavy fruit, which begins as a flower. The pineapple fruit is the culmination of about 200 flower buds coming together, hence why it develops those signature hexagonal eyes. The buds start off a deep purple color, develop into berries, and eventually merge into one miniature pineapple. It can take almost two years after planting for the pineapple to flower, and an additional five or six months for the fruit to grow large enough to harvest.

Unsure how to peel a pineapple? Use the TikTok hack for opening pineapple without picking up a knife. It may sound impossible, but thanks to those little eyes (the individual berries that joined into a single fruit), the process is easy. All you have to do is rip the leafy top off, before you roll and smash the pineapple on a countertop. Then, grab onto a spike to pull the eyes out of the fruit, one by one. Otherwise, follow another viral hack that utilizes the pineapple's eyes as a blueprint and cut the fruit along the seams to easily pull out pieces. 

Given all of this talk about eyes, maybe the saying about them "being the window to the soul" is true — at minimum, they are the key to riper pineapple!