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125 of 136 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not for Hawaiian pineapples!, January 13, 2003
After reading the high marks this was given, and because I have and like using other Vacu Vin products, I ordered this. Living in Hawaii, I have easy access to excellent fresh pineapple. After 30 plus years of cutting up the fruit, I've developed a quick method for getting the job done--but it IS somewhat messy to do. (Also thought it would be neat to have the option of using the shell to serve dessert or a drink.)BUT it totally mangled the fruit! In retrospect I might have anticipated this, for the following reasons:
1. The cutters all are plastic, and using them to cut a fibrous fruit--and the even more fibrous core--is similar to using a plastic knife in lieu of a real steak knife: It can be done, but it's an effort.
2. Yes, I tried each of the cutters. All had the same sized core-removal portion, which is way too small for the pineapples I buy here; only the outer diameter on each of the cutters varies.
3. Not only does this gadget assume that the core will be relatively small, it assumes that it will be VERY straight and very centered--a mistake, for the core often is slightly off-center and often widens near the base. After ten minutes, I gave up on this gadget and did what I normally do: Got out two cutting boards (one for the cored wedges, one for the original fruit, then used my trusty 20 cm (8 inch) Wusthof Trident serrated bread knife in the following steps. 1. Cut off the prickly top of the pineapple with a margin of 1/2 to one inches
2. Cut a slice off the bottom, with about the same margin. These two cuts give you a nice flat end, top and bottom.
3. Cut the pineapple first into quarters, then into eighths
4. Remove the core from each wedge (easily visible from the side) by standing it on end and slicing it top to bottom
5. Remove the outer pineapple "skin" and "eyes" by standing each wedge on end and slicing off 1 cm (3/8 inch) of the outer skin. This is the trickiest part, learning to cut along a gentle curve. The resulting product is 8 tidy wedges, which you can slice up or serve individually. They are great in fruit salad, make awesome additions to kabobs--if they last long enough. From our pineapples, I generally have a yield of three pint containers of sliced fruit per pineapple. In summary, until Vacu Vin comes out with a metal version, and addresses the core size issue, my advice is to save your money and put it towards a really good serrated bread knife, such as the Wusthof Trident. In the end it will get you as much as 50% more fruit and you'll have a knife that will give you years of service. However, if you are totally dedicated to getting a shell from your pineapple, chat up the bartender or manager in one of those bars that sells tropical drinks with umbrellas and ask them where to buy a metal corer. Aloha!
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