Product Description

This European device cores a pineapple and removes the meat with as little waste as possible. Depending on the fruit's size, you snap on one of three corers. After slicing off the pineapple's top, you center the plastic corer on the flesh and begin turning it clockwise. When you reach the bottom, simply pull out the corer and, with it, the pineapple's juicy flesh in a neat, ready-to-eat stack. Use the intact shell to hold a fruit salad or tropical sorbet.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2997 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Color: White
• Brand: Vacu Vin
• Model: 4880250
• Dimensions: 3.78" h x 5.35" w x 7.87" l, .50 pounds

Features

• Peels, cores, and slices fresh pineapple in 30 seconds
• Corkscrew-like tool removes flesh in perfectly shaped rings
• Three blades cover all sizes of pineapples
• Shell remains intact for use as dessert or drink bowl
• Winner of several international design awards

Amazon.com Review
Fresh pineapple has a tropical, delicious taste … but many folks can’t figure out how to get past this fruit’s thorny exterior to the sweet inside and resort to buying those perfect little rings in a can. This pineapple slicer peels, cores, and slices a fresh specimen in less than 30 seconds so there is no excuse for ever buying canned pineapple again. To use this ingenious little tool, you must first cut the top off of your fresh pineapple. Next, place the slicer in the middle of the pineapple and push down while turning the handle in a clockwise motion. Pull the slicer straight out of the pineapple and--voila!--your perfect little rings come out with the tool while the rough shell stays behind. Finally, simply slide the handle off the slicer and the pineapple rings slide off with it. The pineapple shell remains intact so you can use it as a dessert bowl or as a glass for piña coladas. The slicer comes with three blades to tackle pineapples of any size. This tool has garnered several prestigious design awards from all over the world, including Germany’s Award for Good Industrial Design, Holland’s ION’s Good Industrial Design award, and Japan’s MITI Award for Excellent Foreign Product. --Cristina Vaamonde

Customer Reviews

Not for Hawaiian pineapples!
After reading the high marks this was given, and because I have and like using other Vacu Vin products, I ordered this. Living in Hawaii, I have easy access to excellent fresh pineapple. After 30 plus years of cutting up the fruit, I've developed a quick method for getting the job done--but it IS somewhat messy to do. (Also thought it would be neat to have the option of using the shell to serve dessert or a drink.)

BUT it totally mangled the fruit! In retrospect I might have anticipated this, for the following reasons:
1. The cutters all are plastic, and using them to cut a fibrous fruit--and the even more fibrous core--is similar to using a plastic knife in lieu of a real steak knife: It can be done, but it's an effort.
2. Yes, I tried each of the cutters. All had the same sized core-removal portion, which is way too small for the pineapples I buy here; only the outer diameter on each of the cutters varies.
3. Not only does this gadget assume that the core will be relatively small, it assumes that it will be VERY straight and very centered--a mistake, for the core often is slightly off-center and often widens near the base.

After ten minutes, I gave up on this gadget and did what I normally do: Got out two cutting boards (one for the cored wedges, one for the original fruit, then used my trusty 20 cm (8 inch) Wusthof Trident serrated bread knife in the following steps.

1. Cut off the prickly top of the pineapple with a margin of 1/2 to one inches
2. Cut a slice off the bottom, with about the same margin. These two cuts give you a nice flat end, top and bottom.
3. Cut the pineapple first into quarters, then into eighths
4. Remove the core from each wedge (easily visible from the side) by standing it on end and slicing it top to bottom
5. Remove the outer pineapple "skin" and "eyes" by standing each wedge on end and slicing off 1 cm (3/8 inch) of the outer skin. This is the trickiest part, learning to cut along a gentle curve.

The resulting product is 8 tidy wedges, which you can slice up or serve individually. They are great in fruit salad, make awesome additions to kabobs--if they last long enough. From our pineapples, I generally have a yield of three pint containers of sliced fruit per pineapple.

In summary, until Vacu Vin comes out with a metal version, and addresses the core size issue, my advice is to save your money and put it towards a really good serrated bread knife, such as the Wusthof Trident. In the end it will get you as much as 50% more fruit and you'll have a knife that will give you years of service.

However, if you are totally dedicated to getting a shell from your pineapple, chat up the bartender or manager in one of those bars that sells tropical drinks with umbrellas and ask them where to buy a metal corer. Aloha!

Quite impressive, and easy to use
I bought one of these for my wife, and I must say, I'm amazed. I love fresh pineapple, but hate the bother of cutting it up, and making sure you don't get any of the core or the woody part. This impressive little invention does it all for you, and quite rapidly, as well. It's the type of gadget that can be used right out of the box, within a minute of looking at it, and it works right every time!

Highly recommended!

Memories of Hawaii While in Michigan
Alright, I don't know how really fresh the pineapple is in Michigan, but they sell it at the grocery store. My family just loves fresh pineapple, (the canned stuff can stay in the can), but it is such a hassle to try to clean and core and slice the pineapple. NOT WITH THIS gadget!

In less than one minute, I can peel, core, slice and serve fresh pineapple rings, with very little mess to clean up afterwards. Even better, the shell remains intact for use as a fancy serving bowl along with the watermelon bowl! We are having fresh pineapple more often, and the memories of the Hawaii trip are discussed each and every time the perfect pineapple is served.

With three different blade singes, almost all pineapple sizes are covered. A great little gadget for the price!