HOT PINEAPPLE PUDDING, low-sugar, frugal

A Low-Sugar, Frugal, Juicy Tropical Sweet

Peeled, cored, sliced pineapple - details below.

Pineapples have been served in the UK since the 1700's, when they were associated with great wealth and supreme gardening skills.  

Today, with pineapples available in supermarkets for £1, there's no excuse for not indulging in this tangy, refreshing fruit. They are great on their own, in cakes, in cocktails and combined with many meats.  

OK, it is a drag wrestling with the scaly skin and the tough inner core and, indeed, in working out whether the fruit is actually ripe.  But once you have learned how to approach pineapples without trepidation, going back to tinned will be less appealing. Photos below show how to proceed.    

Before you start, the best way of testing the ripeness of a pineapple is is to pull out one of spiky leaves from the centre of the tree-like fronds on top.  It should come out easily.  Another test is does it smell ripe?    

With the less expensive pineapples, it won't be until you get home and open up the fruit that you will learn how hard or soft the inner flesh is.  Sometimes you will be surprised at how tender and ready-to-eat it is; other times, you'll know cooking is necessary.

Hot Pineapple Pudding is simply superb, hot, heady with tropical scent, naturally sweet, exotic without costing the earth.  It is baked with the tiniest amount of muscovado sugar (also known as molasses sugar - the darkest on the market) and fresh grated ginger.  Ginger root is the key ingredient here -- try to get fresh  -- and gives an undisputed but welcome kick.  People who normally don't like ginger will love this.  Served with yoghurt cream or, if there are no cholesterol issues, single or whipping cream, the Hot Pineapple Pudding is a winner.         


Cost: £1.20
Serves: 3-4

Ingred:
   3/4 of a peeled, quartered and cored pineapple, sliced
   1-2 tsp of dark muscovado sugar
   1 tablespoon of fresh grated ginger or 1 tsp dried
   Water or orange juice 

Method: (See preparing pineapples below)

1. Slice pineapples 1/2"/1 cm thick
2. Put one layer in a ceramic baking tray (5 1/2" by 10/14cm x 26 cm or a 8"/20cm square or round)
3. Scatter with a scant 1/3 tsp of sugar and 1/3 of the ginger
4. Repeat layers until pineapple is used up
5. Add enough water or orange juice to just cover the fruit. Cover dish with a tight fitting lid or with foil.
6. Bake at 350F/180c/gas 4 for 45 mins to an hour or until cooked through 
7. OR
8. Marinade pineapple in the ingredients above for a couple of hours or overnight and grill OR
9. Cook in a large frying pan with ingredients above until soft and cooked through

Cut off Top and Bottom
Use Sharp Knife to Slice away
 Peel in Manageable Sections 

Remove Eyes via
V-shaped incision

Halve and then quarter pineapple.
Cut away & discard tough inner core

More fruity desserts on NavBar: Recipes 1

Please leave a Comment in the box below

Copyright: This recipe has been developed by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and may not be reproduced without the author's written permission.