At some point in your life, you’ll find yourself faced with chopping up a giant melon. Strawberries and kiwis are good practice, but your paring knife skills will leave you ill-equipped for taking down a watermelon, honeydew, or pineapple.
When it comes to effectively cutting up large fruit for the first time, and for every time, consider these tips to do it in the safest, least messy way.
Set up your station
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A melon may start out the size of a fire hydrant, but it’s nothing compared to how much space you need for the butchering process. Before you get started, set up a smart station. That includes a large cutting board with a mat or non-slip material underneath, clear counter space, a large bowl for the cut fruit pieces, and a trash can or compost bin on the floor next to you. Bonus points if your cutting board has a juice groove to catch those run-away juices.
You’ll also need a sharp knife that matches the size of your project. Instead of the paring knife, now is a good time to use that 8-inch or 10-inch chef’s knife that scares you a little bit.
Set up your slicing station with the right equipment:
The first cut should be a small one
This may not strike you as news, but many fruits are round. They do not like to sit still, in fact, they enjoy rolling away. Pair that movement with a sharp knife, and cutting up melon seems more like a circus trick. The first cut keeps the ball from rolling. Make a small stabilizing cut to create a flat surface where there wasn’t one before. It takes two seconds, and it won’t rob you of your dignity. What it will do is keep your fingers and body parts safe from harm.
Hold the fruit firmly with your non-dominant hand, and slice off a small disk of rind about three or four inches in diameter—just a simple, shallow, straight cut. Let your fruit sit on this flat spot on the cutting board. If you’re cutting a pineapple, you’ll end up cutting both the end with spiky leaves and the stem-end, so either one can be your bottom.
Remove the seeds
Now that the fruit is sitting on its flat bottom, you can make bigger cuts. If you’re cutting a fruit with a central seed pocket, like a honeydew, cantaloupe, or other muskmelon, you’ll need to clear that out next.
Support the melon with your non-dominant hand pressing against one side and place the knife’s blade on the top, along the central line. Press the tip of the knife in first, and then press the heel down to make the cut.
If the fruit is too big, don’t try to cut it in half in one slice. Cut one side, and take out the knife. Turn the fruit (or the whole board, if you want) 180 degrees and complete the cut on the other side.
Now you have two halves. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds into the trash can or compost bin next to you.
Slice with the rind on
Sometimes the keeping the rind on matches the occasion. If you’re keeping the rind on for a handheld, picnic-style melon slice, flip one half of the melon over, so the flat, cut-side is on the cutting board (always go for a nice stable surface). Cut through in equally spaced slices, about an inch and a half apart. If the fruit is much larger than your knife you can always repeat the process of slicing the side closest to you, then spinning the fruit or the whole board and finishing the cut on the opposite end. Present delicious half-moon slices to the world, cut them into wedges, or slice in the other direction like a grid and go for the stick presentation.
Take off the rind
To make bite-sized chunks to keep in the fridge for quick snacking, next slice the rind off of the hemispheres before cutting it into pieces. Sit one half of the melon on the cutting board, seeds out, and cut side down.
Always cutting away from your body, cut strips of the rind off starting from the top and curving down the sides. Rotate the fruit or the cutting board so you can keep cutting off strips without torquing your body at weird angles.
When the skin is gone and all you have is a pure melon orb, cut the melon into slices, and cut those slices into bite-sized hunks.
How to slice a pineapple
When cutting a pineapple, stand it on one of its two flat ends. Cutting straight down from the top, begin taking off the skin in strips. You should remove all of the green or brown skin, but it’s OK if some of the “eyes” remain—they are totally edible, but you can go after them with a paring knife if you absolutely hate them.
To slice a pineapple in rings, turn the fruit on its side, slice, and use a round cookie cutter to core the slices. For chunks, leave the pineapple standing on its end and slice straight down, slightly off-center to avoid the core. Then cut those slabs into bite-sized pieces, and maybe put the core into a water bottle.
Be sure to keep your work area clear of scattered rind strips (that’s what the nearby trash is for), and take your time. If your fruit is releasing a lot of liquid, take a break, drain the board into a cup, and take a nice juice break.