Use the whole pineapple

Three recipes for all things pineapple, dried, fermented & baked

Pineapple is one of those ingredients that brings a decent sweet punch to the plate. Its natural sweetness, balanced by a vibrant acidity, makes it incredibly versatile. Whether you’re grilling it for a smoky caramelization, tossing it in a salad, or pairing it with seafood. I’m a fan of using it for both sweet dishes. Heres three recipes using the whole pineapple. Drying, fermenting or just baked in a cakey!

Upside-down whole Pineapple cake

Recipe

Flour mix

200g plain flour

150g almond meal

1 tsp baking powder

Half a tsp pinch of bicarb

Pinch off salt

Yogurt Mix

300ml yogurt

The seeds of half a Vanilla pod

1 pinch all spice

A little orange zest

Butter mix

160g butter

70g brown sugar

100g sugar

3 eggs (lightly whisked)

1 pineapple

70g butter

150g sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees

Mix flour, half of the almond meal, bicarb and baking powder in a bowl.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and aerated. Add half of the almond meal, then slowly mix in the egg.

In a big bowl, combine the butter mix, the flour mix and yogurt mix.

Peel, core and slice the pineapple into little chunks.

Put a 30 cm pan onto a medium heat. Add the butter and sugar. Heat until it becomes a caramel.

Remove from the heat, carefully arrange the pineapple chunks. Cook on the stove to 5 minutes then leave to cool.

Top with the cake mix, spread to cover the pinapple.

Bake for 30 minutes at 180 deg, then from to 160 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool before turning.

To remove from the pan, pop n the heat and warm slightly to melt the caramel.

Put a plate onto the cake and carefully turn over.

Serve with crème fraîche or ice cream

---

Tepache

A delicious fermented drink, originating from pre Hispanic Mexico.

I had my first taste from a market stall in Oaxaca on a steaming hot day on a “research” trip with work.

You can actually make it with just the core and skins if you like.

Often I’ll add other goods such as cloves, ginger, turmeric, honey, different sugars even other fruit for extra flavour and colour(pic below).

Recipe

1 ripe pineapple (or 6oog of pineapple skins and core)

2lt filter water

160 caster sugar

60g brown sugar

A small stick of cinnamon

Method

Boil water and sugar, add the cinnamon leave to cool.

Remove stalk from the pineapple.  Rough chop the pineapple, add to the cool, sugar water.

Cover with a cloth and leave to ferment. 

After a 24 - 48 hours you’ll start to see bubbles. I taste it every day until happy with the level of ferment. Depending on the temp of the room it usually takes around 5 days.

Once happy, strain into 1lt bottles. leaving a 4 in gap) and store at 5 degrees.

Leave at room temp for a day or two if you want extra carbonation.

Take care when opening.

(I love it super fizzy, so open over the sink)

Plum and berry infused Tepache

---

Pineapple Granola

I’ve flavoured this with dried pineapple, macadamias and coconut here, but swap in whatever takes your fancy!