Try one of these 100-year-old recipes for your sweet tooth — Hawaiian caramel, marmalade, fritters, and more — starring the tropical fruit native to South America.
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The Useful Pineapple
Originally published in The Country Gentleman, July 18, 1914
The pineapple should prove of inestimable value to the housewife, not only because of its possibilities along culinary lines, but for its medicinal properties as well. Served alone or combined with other ingredients it is a delicious addition to the menu.
On account of the vegetable pepsin that it contains, the juice of the pineapple should always be scalded when it is to be combined with albuminous substances, such as milk, egg, or gelatin.
To secure the full benefit of its fine flavor, the pineapple should be eaten fresh and without sugar. The easiest way to prepare the fruit is to cut the pine across, rind and all, according to the thickness desired, and then to peel each slice and remove the eyes. The slices may then be pulled apart with a silver fork or left whole. The woody center may easily be removed with an apple corer.
Canning
The fruit should either be cut in thin slices or shredded. After sufficient sugar has been added to sweeten, it may be cooked in an open saucepan and then placed in jars, or the fruit may be put directly into the jars and a hot sirup, made in the proportion of a cupful of sugar to a cupful of water, be poured over it. The covers should then be screwed down lightly and the jars placed on a pad of cloth or paper in a saucepan two-thirds full of warm water. Bring the water to the boiling point and boil 10 minutes. Remove the jars, screw the covers down tight, and set aside to cool.
Pineapple Marmalade
Pare and grate a sufficient number of ripe pineapples. Weigh the pulp, place it in a granite preserving kettle, and let simmer gently for 20 minutes. Add three-quarters of a pound of sugar for each pound of pulp. Boil seven minutes and put up in jars.
Sweet Pickled Pineapple
Prepare pineapples by slicing, peeling, and removing the cores. There should be 15 pounds. Boil together for 10 minutes: 7 pounds of sugar, 3 1/2 quarts of vinegar, and 1 tablespoonful each of cloves, allspice and stick cinnamon (broken). To this sirup, add the prepared fruit and boil until the fruit is tender. Skim out the fruit and place it in stone jars. Boil the sirup for 15 minutes and pour it over the fruit.
Pineapple Jelly
When pineapple is used alone, the jelly is inclined to be sticky and soft rather than firm. The addition of apple juice or gelatin will usually remedy the difficulty.
Wash the pineapples thoroughly, cut off the stems and blossoms and, without peeling, cut in thick slices. To each pineapple add four good-sized tart apples, a sliced lemon, including the rind, and 2 cupfuls of water. Let simmer several hours, strain and place again on the fire. To each cupful of juice, add a cupful of sugar that has been heated in the oven. Cook about two minutes longer, or until it jellies, taking care to remove the scum as it rises to the surface. Pour into jelly glasses.
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As an ingredient of puddings, creams, and salads the pineapple has no superior among the tropical fruits. Recipes for delicious combinations are here given:
Pineapple Marshmallow
Mix equal amounts of marshmallows, cut in quarters, and pineapple, cut in cubes. Add a little pineapple juice and set in a cold place to marinate. Just before serving, drain off the juice, sprinkle with candied cherries and English walnuts, chopped fine, and fold in cream that has been whipped until stiff.
Hawaiian Caramel
Soak a cupful of tapioca in a cupful of cold water over night. In the morning, place it in a double boiler with three cupfuls of brown sugar and sufficient water to cover.
Add the pineapple juice and hot water as required, stirring frequently. Cook until the tapioca becomes transparent. Pour over chopped or shredded pineapple. Serve with cream.
Pineapple Ice
Cook together for 5 minutes: 2 1/2 cupfuls of sugar, a quart of water, and the juice of two lemons. Take from the fire and add two grated pineapples. Strain and press through a cloth until all the juice is extracted. Partly freeze, then add the beaten whites of two eggs and complete the freezing.
Pineapple Ice Cream
Use any good recipe for ice cream. Put in the freezer and freeze. When it begins to congeal, add shredded pineapple in sufficient quantity to flavor and finish freezing.
Shredded pineapple served as a sauce with vanilla ice cream is good.
Pineapple Delight
Arrange on individual plates as many slices of pineapple as are needed. In the center of each slice place ice cream in the shape of a cone. Add a tablespoonful of whipped cream and sprinkle with crushed walnut meats.
Pineapple Cake
Make a cake after your favorite recipe. Bake in three layers. A little while before needed, put the layers together with a filling made of a pint of whipped cream and a cupful of grated pineapple, sweetened to taste.
Pineapple Fritters
Sift together 1 cupful of flour, 1/2 a teaspoonful of baking powder, and a pinch of salt. Add two well-beaten eggs, 1/2 cupful of sugar, and 1/2 cupful of milk. Beat well, then add a cupful of chopped pineapple. Fry in deep fat.
Salad Supreme
Cut a slice from the stem end of a large pineapple, then cut the fruit in two, lengthwise, leaving on the blossom. Remove the pulp, put the two cut ends together to form a boat-shaped receptacle, and fill with any of the following salad combinations, well-blended with mayonnaise dressing:
- pineapple, sliced bananas, and candied cherries
- pineapple, celery, nuts, and oranges
- pineapple, celery, sweetbreads, and olives
- pineapple, celery, chopped green peppers, and pimentos
Pineapple Salad
Form a nest from the white leaves of lettuce, place a spoonful of mayonnaise in the center, and a slice of pineapple on top. In the center of the slice, place a ball of cream cheese that has been rolled in chopped almonds.
California Salad
Arrange a slice of pineapple on leaves of lettuce, then with a sharp knife cut pimento into petal-shaped strips and arrange them on the pineapple in the form of a poinsettia. Use cream cheese and chopped nuts for the center.
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