Adventures with Pineapple

Last week a local store had whole pineapples on sale for $1 each. I love pineapple and canned pineapple is one of my go to fruits during the winter months when there isn't much fresh fruit available. I decided to can my own this year. I went to the store to pick up my pineapples and loaded 20 into my shopping cart. Let me tell you, if you buy that many pineapples at one time people will stare at you. Especially if that is the only thing in your cart! I have bought large quantities before but 20 pineapples is enough to completely fill the basket. I got a lot of stares, a few questions and then someone asked if they could come to my luau. I have found that when people are commenting they pretty much fall into a couple of categories:

1. They are experienced canners themselves and know why I have that much of one product.  

They are curious to see if I am making something that they don't know how to make or don't have a recipe for and sometimes they offer suggestions for things that I hadn't thought of, love talking to those people!

2. Sometimes they are new canners and they want to know how I am going to use it, or they are people that will tell me they want to learn how to can.

3. Some people are just curious!

I have never canned pineapple before. I only bought 20 so that I could see how long it was going to take me to process each pineapple. I learned that lesson after I bought all the citrus that took me forever to process. I had bought this hand little too last year on clearance and had yet to use it. It did make quick work of each pineapple. Each pineapple comes out cored and sliced. I just had to trim away a little bit sometimes on the top and the bottom slices.

The core stays in the pineapple along with some juice that I poured out and used as canning liquid. 

After seeing how long it took, I knew I could do more before the weekend was over so I went back for 20 more for a total of 40 pineapples. I ended up with 50 pint jars of pineapple chunks.

I also had enough left to dehydrate 9 full trays of pineapple slices. 

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When I was a child I go go shopping with my Mamaw and was amazed that she always found someone to talk to no matter where we went, she would end up talking to someone. We always joked about it. Now I am that person :P. It is weird people will just start talking to me in stores or in waiting rooms. I am pretty shy and really never just start talking to people I don't know. Kip is amazed that he can go off for a bit and come back and I am talking to someone that is telling me all about their life. 

That always reminds me of my Mamaw and brings a smile to my face and my heart. It's just one of those times that I feel so connected to her, even though she has been gone for over 12 years. So I really don't mind people stopping me to talk, because I wonder if she had a hand in it and is laughing too.
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I found the pineapple tool at my local Kroger, but I have seen them in a lot of places that see a lot of kitchen gadgets such as  Bed Bath and Beyond.