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Pineapple Cutters

If you have your heart set on fresh pineapple in a hurry, a dedicated pineapple cutter may be just what you need.

Editor&aposs Note:UpdateSeptember 2012

Earlier this year we chose the Rösle Pineapple Slicer as our favorite tool for slicing and coring a whole pineapple. The only problem? Its $30 price. Now another manufacturer has come along with a similar corkscrew design costing a third less. For $19.99, our new winner let us cut into the pineapple without having to remove and reposition our hands with each twist, making the task go a little faster. The measurement markings on the shaft of the slicer also let us gauge how deeply to cut into the fruit without punching through the bottom. This feature allowed us to remove a good 1/2 inch more fruit than the Rösle, which had us relying solely on our intuition to know when to stop slicing. Another boon: Our new winner's narrow slicing base let us lay it flat in a drawer—not so with the wider Rösle base.

Top Pick

  • Ease of Use
  • Performance

WinnerOXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Ratcheting Pineapple Slicer

This corkscrew-style slicer cores and slices a whole pineapple quickly with a ratcheting handle that allowed us to hold it through each twist into the fruit. Measurement markings on the shaft let us gauge the depth of the fruit so we could slice without punching through the bottom of the pineapple. A plus: Its compact, 2¼-inch-wide base let us store it flat in a kitchen drawer.
Model Number: 3108300Price at Time of Testing: $19.99
  • Ease of Use
  • Performance
This corkscrew-style slicer cores and slices a whole pineapple quickly with a ratcheting handle that allowed us to hold it through each twist into the fruit. Measurement markings on the shaft let us gauge the depth of the fruit so we could slice without punching through the bottom of the pineapple. A plus: Its compact, 2¼-inch-wide base let us store it flat in a kitchen drawer.
Model Number: 3108300Price at Time of Testing: $19.99

What You Need to Know

Canned pineapple—or even precut supermarket wedges—can’t compare with a fresh, whole pineapple for juicy, tart sweetness. But removing the fruit’s spiky rind and tough core takes a sharp chef’s knife and patience, not to mention time and skill.

Specialized pineapple cutting tools separate the core, or the core and skin, from the flesh with some time-saving pushes or twists of a handle, and some even slice the fruit into rings at the same time. To find out whether any of them are worth buying, we rounded up six brands in a range of styles (priced from less than $10 to about $30, all dishwasher-safe), bought a case of pineapples, and got to work.

The least effective design—a pair of thin, steel half-circles attached to a short plastic handle—required an awkward rocking motion to force its flimsy blades through the fruit. It was a bit frightening, too, since it was impossible to use without having one hand in the way of its blades. One tube-shaped model removed only the core, and while it did so quickly and cleanly, we still had to pare away the pineapple’s diamond-patterned skin and “eyes” with a knife. Another “stab-and-push” style tool with two concentric circular cutters required too much effort and wasted a lot of fruit.

We preferred the corkscrew-style corer/slicers, all of which worked nearly effortlessly. These hollow, serrated tubes with a spiral-shaped blade at one end simultaneously slice and separate the fruit from the core and rind with several clockwise turns of a handle. When the corkscrew models had spiraled to the bottom of the pineapple, we simply lifted the tool out, holding a neat stack of evenly sized rings. To extract the slices, we detached the handles and slid the fruit off. The only drawback was waste: These corer/slicers left significant amounts of fruit still attached to the shell (as much as 1/4 inch in places), particularly if the tool was inserted at a slight angle. In the end, a few differences among the three corkscrew-style cutters left us with one clear standout, a sturdy stainless-steel tube with a comfortable plastic handle that gave us good leverage. Its heft and design made it easy to twist straight down, generating less waste than the other models and making 30-second work of an ordinarily arduous task.

Everything We Tested

Good 3 Stars out of 3.
Fair 2 Stars out of 3.
Poor 1 Star out of 3.

Highly Recommended

  • Ease of Use
  • Performance

WinnerOXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Ratcheting Pineapple Slicer

This corkscrew-style slicer cores and slices a whole pineapple quickly with a ratcheting handle that allowed us to hold it through each twist into the fruit. Measurement markings on the shaft let us gauge the depth of the fruit so we could slice without punching through the bottom of the pineapple. A plus: Its compact, 2¼-inch-wide base let us store it flat in a kitchen drawer.
Model Number: 3108300Price at Time of Testing: $19.99
  • Ease of Use
  • Performance
This corkscrew-style slicer cores and slices a whole pineapple quickly with a ratcheting handle that allowed us to hold it through each twist into the fruit. Measurement markings on the shaft let us gauge the depth of the fruit so we could slice without punching through the bottom of the pineapple. A plus: Its compact, 2¼-inch-wide base let us store it flat in a kitchen drawer.
Model Number: 3108300Price at Time of Testing: $19.99

Recommended

  • Ease of Use
  • Performance

Rösle Pineapple Cutter

This tool quickly and easily reduces a whole pineapple to a stack of neat, uniform slices, leaving the shell and core behind. Its sturdy heft and ergonomic handle made it easier to control than the other corkscrew-style models, and it left less wasted fruit in the shell.
Model Number: 12848Price at Time of Testing: $30
  • Ease of Use
  • Performance
This tool quickly and easily reduces a whole pineapple to a stack of neat, uniform slices, leaving the shell and core behind. Its sturdy heft and ergonomic handle made it easier to control than the other corkscrew-style models, and it left less wasted fruit in the shell.
Model Number: 12848Price at Time of Testing: $30
  • Ease of Use
  • Performance

Vacu Vin Pineapple Slicer and Wedger

This corkscrew-style corer/slicer worked nearly as well as our favorite, but the detachable Y-shaped handle was harder to grasp and to snap back into place after use. We liked the separate plastic wedger disk for cutting the pineapple slices into even chunks.
Model Number: 4872360Price at Time of Testing: $19.99
  • Ease of Use
  • Performance
This corkscrew-style corer/slicer worked nearly as well as our favorite, but the detachable Y-shaped handle was harder to grasp and to snap back into place after use. We liked the separate plastic wedger disk for cutting the pineapple slices into even chunks.
Model Number: 4872360Price at Time of Testing: $19.99
  • Ease of Use
  • Performance

MIU France Stainless Steel Pineapple Corer/Slicer

This corkscrew-style corer/slicer worked almost just as well as our two favorites, but its short, round handle didn’t offer much grip, making it a bit harder to twist straight down through the pineapple and leaving behind more wasted fruit. At less than half the price of our winner, though, it’s a good bargain option.
Model Number: 90091Price at Time of Testing: $12.33
  • Ease of Use
  • Performance
This corkscrew-style corer/slicer worked almost just as well as our two favorites, but its short, round handle didn’t offer much grip, making it a bit harder to twist straight down through the pineapple and leaving behind more wasted fruit. At less than half the price of our winner, though, it’s a good bargain option.
Model Number: 90091Price at Time of Testing: $12.33

Recommended with reservations

  • Ease of Use
  • Performance

Paderno World Cuisine 10-Inch Pineapple Corer

This stainless-steel tube removes only the core of the pineapple but does so quickly and neatly, thanks to sharp serrated teeth. We had to use a chef’s knife to then remove the skin and slice the fruit, but that did preserve more of the fruit than the corkscrew-style corers. A fine tool for cooks with a little extra time.
Model Number: 48280-10Price at Time of Testing: $17.91
  • Ease of Use
  • Performance
This stainless-steel tube removes only the core of the pineapple but does so quickly and neatly, thanks to sharp serrated teeth. We had to use a chef’s knife to then remove the skin and slice the fruit, but that did preserve more of the fruit than the corkscrew-style corers. A fine tool for cooks with a little extra time.
Model Number: 48280-10Price at Time of Testing: $17.91

Not Recommended

  • Ease of Use
  • Performance

Pineapple Prince Pineapple Corer

The two concentric ring-shaped cutters of this push-style corer wasted a lot of fruit, leaving behind a larger hole in the center than the other corers. Testers found it uncomfortable to use, and it required removal of both ends of the pineapple before use.
Model Number: 1932Price at Time of Testing: $9.99
  • Ease of Use
  • Performance
The two concentric ring-shaped cutters of this push-style corer wasted a lot of fruit, leaving behind a larger hole in the center than the other corers. Testers found it uncomfortable to use, and it required removal of both ends of the pineapple before use.
Model Number: 1932Price at Time of Testing: $9.99
  • Ease of Use
  • Performance

Progressive International Pineapple Corer

Before we could even use this corer, we had to halve the pineapple lengthwise and trim off the top and bottom. It then took a lot of force and an awkward rocking motion to push the tool’s two flimsy, semicircular blades through the fruit, and it was impossible to do so without having one hand dangerously close to the blade.
Model Number: GT-3951Price at Time of Testing: $7.99
  • Ease of Use
  • Performance
Before we could even use this corer, we had to halve the pineapple lengthwise and trim off the top and bottom. It then took a lot of force and an awkward rocking motion to push the tool’s two flimsy, semicircular blades through the fruit, and it was impossible to do so without having one hand dangerously close to the blade.
Model Number: GT-3951Price at Time of Testing: $7.99

*All products reviewed by America’s Test Kitchen are independently chosen, researched, and reviewed by our editors. We buy products for testing at retail locations and do not accept unsolicited samples for testing. We list suggested sources for recommended products as a convenience to our readers but do not endorse specific retailers. When you choose to purchase our editorial recommendations from the links we provide, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices are subject to change.

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