My only experience with pineapple while growing up in the fifties and sixties was with the canned variety. It came in crushed, chunks, and rings- a necessity for pineapple upside down cake. Like all canned things, the pineapple had a tinny after-taste. But still, a sweet treat.

I started smoking pot when I was in high school. Not a great choice, but among other things, it gave me a sense of belonging. Coming from a chaotic background, I didn’t feel comfortable with anybody normal, and the druggie people liked me exactly the way I was. One of the first places I got high was the hillside by Kirkwood High’s south parking lot, overlooking the field hockey pitch. It was where all of the stoners gathered, either between classes or not, to smoke whatever, hang out, and watch girls hack at each other’s legs with hockey sticks.

On that hillside, I was first introduced to fresh pineapple. I had never heard of fresh pineapple- I don’t think I even knew what pineapple looked like before being canned.  I’m pretty sure I had already smoked something that day to enhance my senses. Yep, pretty darn sure. Sitting on that hillside, a little high, being handed a piece of fresh pineapple, juice dripping off my elbows, full-on sunshine, surrounded by laughing friends- that was one of my early life’s peak experiences. Not too long after, I left the drugs behind, but I hung onto the love of fresh pineapple.

I love them so much I invested in a pineapple corer. I’d been laboriously cutting up a pineapple, halving then quartering it, trimming the core from the quarters, cutting the flesh off of each quarter’s rind, then cutting that into pieces- about a twenty-minute project. Our handyman Matt was over working on the bathroom sink, and came into the kitchen to say hello. He asked me why I didn’t have a corer, and gave me a quick overview.

I spent 10 bucks at Amazon for the corer, and I love it. I slice off the bottom and top, twist the corer until it’s all the way through the pineapple, pull the corer out with the pineapple flesh in a neat spiral, and slide it onto a plate to cut up- about five minutes from start to finish.

Aldi has them for about two dollars apiece. I usually buy one or two a month. They are wonderful in fresh fruit salad with strawberries, grapes, and blueberries, and so good in cottage cheese – it almost tastes like cheesecake.

Recently, I’ve been making delicious burrito bowls. A bottom layer of seasoned black beans, a layer of Mexican street corn (frozen corn sautéed with mayonnaise and chili powder}, and a third layer of either taco-seasoned chicken or Aldi‘s pork carnitas.  The top layer is the magic. Fresh pineapple, sautéed in butter, until all the juices have been absorbed, and the pineapple is browned, caramelized, and so sweet. As sweet as those afternoons on the school hillside.