Will A Pineapple Ripen After Being Picked? (3 Tips)

Will a pineapple ripen after being picked? (3 Tips)

In this brief guide, ‘We will answer the question ‘Will a pineapple ripen after being picked?’ and some ways you can enable it to happen.

Pineapple stops ripening as it loses its source of sweetness; that is the stem. Once you cut out the stem, the fruit cannot produce its sugar.

The pineapple is a non-climacteric fruit. The production of ethylene gas is significantly reduced after it has detached from the plant. This explains why pineapples do not theoretically ripen after being picked. However, you can accelerate the sweetening process by the methods discussed below.

Do pineapples ripen after being picked?

A unique thing about pineapples is that they do not ripen any further once they have been plucked/picked. Therefore, choose your pineapples wisely! It is highly unlikely that they are going to become tastier if you have purchased green pineapples.

Pineapple is a tropical plant with an edible fruit that is rich in nutrients and antioxidants. It contains a wide variety of vitamins and minerals that may boost immunity and suppress inflammation.

Pineapples are grown in dry, well-drained tropical habitats of South America.

It takes from 14 to 18 months before the first ripe. After the juicy pineapples have been harvested, the second harvest takes place in 13 months.

How to tell if a pineapple is ripe?

A ripe pineapple is yellow. Generally, the more yellowish its outer part is, the riper the fruit is. However, green pineapples may be ripe in some cases. Therefore, we need to consider other factors beyond color when choosing your pineapple.

A ripe pineapple has a firm exterior but is slightly soft when squeezed. However, completely solid pineapples are not fully ripe and feel hard when squeezed.

A soft pineapple is a sign of over-ripeness, bruised or rotten from inside. Therefore, it is necessary to check before buying a pineapple.

How do pineapples grow?

The pineapple plant is planted very carefully in fertile soil. It grows best in a tropical climate where the nights are mild and the days are hot and sunny. The many tiny flowers turn into small berries that join together to make a pineapple fruit. It takes from 14 to 18 months before the first batch of ripe pineapples is harvested, and another 13 months for the second harvest.

How to pick up a sweet pineapple?

When shopping at the grocery store, first, check the crown of the pineapple. The crown leaves tell much about the pineapple’s age. If the crown color is fresh green and the texture of those leaves is firm and succulent, that means the pineapple is fresh and ripe.

A well-ripened pineapple is a sweet pineapple. An unripe pineapple will be sour and retain a tangy taste.

An overripe pineapple will smell sickly and syrupy sweet. Therefore, the pineapples are picked when they are completely ripe.

If a pineapple doesn’t have any odor, it may mean that it’s not ripe.

Pineapple is almost always cut from their plant while still green because they have a long way to travel before it sits on the shelf of your favorite grocery store. The pineapples are tested for ripeness as well as safety. All pineapples at the store should be ready and safe to eat, even if still green.

Other FAQs about Pineapples which you may be interested in.

How long can pineapple sit out?

How to trim a pineapple plant?

How to juice pineapple?

How to soften unripe pineapples?

Method 1: Add another fruit

Place the pineapple in a paper bag.

To ripen the pineapple even faster, add a banana or an apple. These fruits produce ethylene, a hormone that helps ripen fruits.

Fold the top of the bag and leave it at room temperature for a day. Your pineapple will be fully ripe within a day or two.

Method 2 The Upside-down method

This method is pretty simple, and it does not require much effort either. In this method, you need to make the pineapple stand upside down on its leaves. You either hang it from the surface or use a support to make it stand upside down. This upside-down hanging will result in two changes.

Firstly, the sugar stored at the base of the pineapple will naturally flow into its core which will initiate a faster ripening process. Similar to what happens on the tree.

The continued flow of sugar to various parts of the fruit makes it grow faster.

On the other hand, this hanging mechanism will also prevent the base of the pineapple from fermentation. The presence of sugar at the base aids the fermentation of only the bottom of the pineapple. As a result, the rest of the pineapple remains unripe. Keep the ripe pineapple in the refrigerator rather than the room temperature.

Now that pineapple is ripe enough; it’s time to put it to good use. The flesh near the skin is the healthiest part of this fruit which people accidentally chop off while peeling. If you are juicing the pineapple, you should be much concerned about removing the skin to that extent.

In this brief guide, we answered the question ‘Will a pineapple ripen after being picked?’. We discussed some ways you can enable it to happen.