Does pineapple ripen after picking

I've read that it does not and I have read that it does.

Anyone know?

When I eat under-ripe pineapple my tongue swells and my throat sort of closes up for a few days! I also get "burned" from the acid (my tongue and lips).

My grandfather bought a pineapple at the store and said I should have it. But it is green and so I bet it is certainly unripe.

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Permalink Reply by hardcore_herbivore on May 29, 2010 at 12:29pm

Most of what I've read says pineapple doesn't ripen after being picked, and the one's I've bought don't seem to ripen much after I buy them. You could always keep it a few days, see if it ripens up, and if it doesn't share it with some friends or family. From my experience a lot of cooked food eaters can't tell the difference between truly ripe fruits and not-quite-ripe fruits.

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Permalink Reply by Ki on May 29, 2010 at 12:59pm

Most, if not all the pineapples I buy are unripe. It usually takes them about a week to ripen. If your pineapple is still green after a few days, place it in a loosely sealed plastic bag, which will create humidity, allowing it to ripen faster. Before I eat it, I soak it overnight in a bowl of about 2- 4 oz of water, standing upwards, the same way you find them on display in the store. It helps dilute the acidity and makes them taste sweeter.

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Permalink Reply by Pamela Pollock on June 3, 2010 at 11:08am

Brilliant! i will try that. Hope your trip home from ecuador was safe and fun! I have some great pictures of you from our raw food hike up Mandango Mountain. If you want to reply to me off list at pamelapixel@gmail.com i will send them to you. love, pamela

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Permalink Reply by Jared Six on May 29, 2010 at 2:44pm

It seems like literally 99% of the pineapples sold in stores are unripe, because it's very rare that I have found ones that are actually ripe and don't burn. However, I'm guessing that we are the only ones that get bad burns from eating them because we are the only ones that will actually sit down and eat a whole pineapple (much less 2 or 3 of them) by ourself in one meal.

When I see a huge display of dark green pineapples I think to myself that stores simply couldn't get away with trying to sell them like that if everyone buying them were going to eat them mono or in large amounts.

People eat such small amounts of pineapple that they don't get bad burns from them, plus they have never had a really ripe pineapple, so they simply feel no need to demand that stores stop selling unripe pineapples.

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Permalink Reply by ednshell on May 29, 2010 at 3:25pm

http://www.30bananasaday.com/video/mature-pineapple-vs-immature

This is what ripe pineapples look like, I've never seen one. They do not ripen after picking.

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Permalink Reply by Bristol on May 30, 2010 at 2:48pm

thanks ednshell! That video was really helpful :)

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Permalink Reply by Bristol on May 30, 2010 at 2:49pm

Thanks everyone :)
seems like they do not truly ripen after picking
This one is totally green. I will have to give it to a friend or something

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Permalink Reply by Durianwriter on May 30, 2010 at 2:52pm

Until recently I too believed that pineapples did not ripen after picking, but I witnessed two very green pineapples become yellow after sitting for 3 days in the sun. They were delicious, sweet, and low-acid.

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Permalink Reply by ednshell on May 30, 2010 at 2:59pm

Wow, I'll have to try it. The official story is that they don't ripen after picking and FruitbatAnne also says this in her book. But you never know. I've tried everything except in the sun to ripen them.

I found this tip-
Pineapples will not continue to ripen after picking but will instead begin to decay after 4 weeks. However, if you want a less tart pineapple, let it age for a 3 to 4 days at room temperature. It won't get sweeter but it will lose some acidity.

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Permalink Reply by Courtney on June 1, 2010 at 3:12am

The pinneapples I get ripen after about a week in a brown paper bag with bananas, which release ethylene gas. I pick them such that they have much yellow at the bottom as possible, and then by the end of the week, they usually turn from yellow-green to yellow-orange. The color change is dramatic and they are very sweet by the end of the week, with low acidity. It took me a long time to learn from trial and error how to ripen them to perfection so that they don't burn my mouth, but my hit rate now is about 75%, so pretty good! Sometimes, though, they don't make it, and start to rot instead. If they are too green to start with, I find that it doesn't work. People are usually super-impressed by the pinneapples that I serve, and I get huge compliments from them.

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Permalink Reply by Esmée La Fleur on May 30, 2010 at 5:48pm

I just completed 62 days on Pineapple Island. Here is what I wrote on Day 3

http://thetaooffruit.blogspot.com/2010/03/pineapple-island-day-3.html

I could not eat any pineapple without blending it for 5-6 week on Pineapple Island. However, now I can eat a half a pineapple 3-4 times a day with no tissue burning.