Preparing pineapple

Choose a pineapple that smells sweet and has no bruising. Place it on a large chopping board and using a sharp knife, slice off the leaves and about 2cm of the top of the pineapple. Slice off the base of the pineapple.

• Stand the pineapple upright on a board and using a medium, flexible knife, saw down the pineapple from top to bottom, taking off strips of peel. You can either cut quite thickly to remove all the prickly eyes, or cut a little thinner and remove the eyes later.
• To remove the eyes. The prickly eyes run in a spiral around the pineapple, follow the lines and angle the knife either side of the eyes, making a 1cm V-shaped cut either side of the eyes to remove them. Do this all around the pineapple in a spiral.
• Slice the pineapple thinly or thickly. If liked use an apple corer to remove the central tough woody core
• To cut chunks of pineapple, cut the peeled pineapple into quarters, then slice off the central woody core and chop the flesh.