Pineapples are delicious tropical fruits that are especially fun to eat in the summer. In fact, they are my 9 year-old daughter’s favorite ingredient for her custom made smoothies! I definitely recommend eating fresh pineapple whenever possible. Pineapple is often uses in desserts, salads, and mixed fruit. Pineapples are a bromeliad fruit, which means that they contain a proteolytic enzyme called bromelain – which breaks down protein. This also means that you can use pineapple juice to marinade or tenderize meat.

Pineapples are great sources for manganese (90% daily value in a 1 cup serving), vitamin C (94% of daily value in a 1 cup serving), and vitamin B1 (thiamin) (8% daily value in a 1 cup serving)

So how do you cut a fruit that seems like it has a spiky armor on? You’ll need a sharp knife and cutting board (and a pineapple). First, place the pineapple on its side on the cutting board and remove the stalk. Then, cut off the top of the pineapple where the stalk was. After that, cut off the bottom of the pineapple. Next, stand the pineapple on its side and carefully cut the spiky skin off the sides in strips until all the skin are off. There may be some skin left on the pineapple, so you can remove these with a potato peeler if necessary. Cut thin or thick (your preference) slices of pineapple while it’s on its sides. When you’ve finished cutting all the slices, take one of them and cut around the core. Sometimes, the pineapple’s core will be too hard to eat. Do the same with all the other slices. After that, you can enjoy the delicious tropical fruit however you want!

Josie’s Favorite Apple/Pineapple Smoothie:

1/2 cup fresh pineapple

1/2 Granny Smith apple (cored and sliced) *we have a high powered Vitamix blender so some blenders might not be powerful enough for the apple. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Vitamix.  (If you are interested in learning more about Vitamix, go to left side of my blog and if you click on Vitamix you will get FREE shipping!)

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Blend together and enjoy!

Assistance provided by Rachel Yam