How to Dry Pineapple

Drying pineapple at home is healthier and cheaper than buying at the store. I’ve included the best tips for cutting a pineapple to make sure you get all the good bits and keep your digits!

While I don’t live in a climate that allows for pineapple harvests, sometimes near the end of the season, pineapples sell for $3 apiece, at the grocery store.  This is a great price, here in the Great White North of Canada.  At that time, I buy several and dry them in my dehydrator to use in trail mix and baking over the winter.  Cutting a pineapple is a little tricky if you haven’t done it before.  So here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get it right the first time.

If the fruit flies show up while you’re preserving, check out this easy fruit fly trap to help cut down their numbers.

Peel and Slice your Pineapple

When you look at a pineapple, there are eyes that bore into the fruit.  You can’t just slice it like you would a banana or an apple.  You need to remove the eyes as well.

Start by cutting off the top and bottom of the pineapple so that you can stand it firmly on your cutting board.  Using a sharp knife (be cautious that you don’t cut your fingers) slice downward, taking off the outer coarse brown skin of the pineapple, close to the eyes.  You’ll want to take as much of the eyes with the skin as possible.  Afterward, if you want to, you can scrape the skin to get some of the sweet flesh and juice to reserve.  If you have a lot of pineapples to process, give the cut skin to the chickens or goats, and they will be happy to clean it up for you.

At this point, I cut the pineapple into quarters.

Then, take each quarter and cut it again, so that your pineapple is in 8, peeled pieces with a small portion of the fibrous core on the centre of each piece.  Cut this fibrous core out and feed it to the chickens or goats, as well.

Now you have a pineapple wedge ready to eat.  You can slice it into triangles for drying or serve it on a tray in a wedge, as fresh fruit.

This is only 1 way to cut a pineapple.  There are others.  Check out this article with 3 ways to cut a pineapple.

To dry your pineapple

Now the easy part.   To dry the pineapple pieces just spread them in a single layer on your dehydrating trays.  Put them in your dehydrator and turn it on, operating it according to your manufacturer’s instructions.  When the pineapple is finished drying, it will be dry, pliable, and not cold to the touch.  If it feels cold when you touch the pieces, it could be that the centre of the fruit is still moist.  Dry it a little longer.  Cool it completely, after drying, and store in a glass jar with a lid.

Use where you would use dried fruit.

Other fruits we enjoy dehydrated:

Cherries

Bananas

Pears