Clean and Can Fresh Pineapple

How excited I was to find pineapple for $.99 each at the grocery store, so I brought home five.  The fresh pineapple were beautiful , the color was perfect and the tops still had a lot of green in them. One was eaten as soon as it was brought into the kitchen,-- we had to do a taste test. 

Pineapple corers are expensive and I feel I loose too much of the fresh fruit.  The corer slices deep into the pineapple so that the eyes are cut at the same time.  Cleaning the pineapple by hand leaves more of the pineapple and turns the whole pineapple into a beautiful shape. The cleaned pineapple could be used on a fruit platter as the center piece.

Fist cut the leafy top and the bottom off of the pineapple, next thinly slice off the brown husk or bark , and finally the little eyes.  To remove the eyes or little brown hairy parts use a paring knife and cut each eye out.  As you cut out the eyes you will notice a spiral pattern occurring. This way of cleaning leaves more of the pineapple fruit.  After cleaning the pineapple slice the fruit into quarters and then slice out the inner core from each section.  Do not throw out the core because this will be used in making the syrup for canning the pineapple.

Prepare the canning jars by washing and placing the jars in the canner filled with water and let water boil to sterilize jars or sterilize jars by using the dish washer.  Next prepare the syrup to pour over the pineapple. Cut the core pieces into one inch pieces and place in a stock pot or large boiler with two quarts of water and two and half cups of white cane sugar.  This will make a light syrup. Amounts can be adjusted according to the amount of pineapple to can. Four pineapples will make approximately 8 pints of canned pineapple chunks.

Cut the pineapple into chunks and fill sterilized jars with chunks and add hot syrup leaving one inch air space.  Remove any air bubbles using a butter knife or any utensil that is flat like a butter knife. Run the knife around the inside of the jar to remove the bubbles. Place the seal and rim on the jar and place in the hot water canner.

Place the pineapple in the water bath canner and process for 15 minutes for pints. After the 15 minutes place the jars on the counter to cool.  Listen for the pop as each lid seals.  Store the canned pineapple in a cool dark spot such as a cabinet. 

Notice I remove the jar rings from my canned jars.  First the rings seem to rust if any moisture gets in between the ring and the jar.  Second if the jar seal is broken then I know the minute I pick up the jar and I discard the contents immediately. 

During the summer pineapple prices are normally lower than any other time of the year.  It is a great time to stock up and can as much as possible. 


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