OXO Ratcheting Pineapple Slicer
Say "pineapple" and two things come to mind: piña coladas and pizza toppings. Being a New York street slice purist, the latter is sacrilege and of no interest to me. But a frozen cocktail — or better yet, a spiked popsicle — is something I could never refuse. The one condition is that the recipe calls for real fruit. (Any directive that utilizes the syrupy canned rings and tinned juices that sit on supermarket shelves should be nixed from your repertoire.)
That said, prepping pineapple is a serious inconvenience. At its peak ripeness, the fruit makes a slippery and sticky mess on the kitchen cutting board. OXO, already lauded for its clever single-ingredient kitchen prep tools, tries to streamline the task with its stainless steel pineapple slicer. The bizarre contraption promises to create perfectly cored rings ready for fruit bowls, smoothies, and — just in time for summer — boozy/frozen/slushy concoctions.
The abundance of cheap pineapple at the market right now gave us incentive to test this tool. Find out how it fared.
Positive (+)
Plain and simple: it works. After slicing off the top of the pineapple, I twisted the handle of the slicer as it worked its way down the flesh. Once it reached the bottom, a tight spiral of pineapple rings was coiled around the stainless steel shaft.
A ratcheting handle let me work the tool without ever having to re-adjust my grip between twists. Compared to the prospect of using a knife and getting my hands covered in pineapple juice, this was a great detail. The slicer was also easy to clean and small enough to store in the utensil drawer.
Users are also left with a nifty hollowed pineapple shell, which can be used as a vessel for drinks or maybe something stronger.
Negative (-)
Despite illustrated directions on the back of its package, this slicer might seem confusing or difficult to operate at first. Luckily OXO has a video demo for the uninitiated. The only word of advice is to make sure that the pineapple top is cut at a clean, horizontal angle. If it's sliced on a slant, the tool might drill into the pineapple on an angle and come tearing through the side of the fruit.
Verdict:
Is this slicer worth adding to your arsenal? Sure, if you're a pineapple plantation owner, devoted juicer or a cook with admittedly clumsy knife skills. Its size and price won't leave a dent in the wallet, and it will spare you prep time and clean-up duties. Only those who rarely eat fruit will be better off cutting and coring their pineapple with a standard chef's knife. Stainless Steel Pineapple Slicer; $19.99, oxo.com
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