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Whole Pine Apple

A whole pineapple preserved by boiling in syrup and repeated steeping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Syrup and sugar match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Whole Pine Apple

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pineapple

  1. Break off the top and stem of the pineapple.

  2. Trim the pineapple well.

  3. Prick the pineapple all over with a fork.

  4. Boil the pineapple in a pan of water until tender.

  5. Remove the pineapple from the boiling water.

  6. Place the pineapple in cold water.

  7. Drain the pineapple.

Syrup and soaking

  1. Place the pineapple in a glass jar or pan.

  2. Boil enough syrup to cover the pineapple.

  3. Pour the syrup over the pineapple.

  4. Let the pineapple stand for 2-3 days.

  5. Drain the syrup.

  6. Boil the syrup a little more.

  7. Skim the syrup.

  8. Pour the syrup over the pineapple again.

  9. Repeat this process for three more days.

  10. Add new syrup as needed.

Finish and serve

  1. Boil the sugar to a great pearl.

  2. Add the pineapple and give it a quick boil.

  3. Skim the mixture well.

  4. Place the pineapple in dry pans for use.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Pineapple + syruptop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together568 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Pineapple + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,841 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pineapple
Forms the main body of the preserve and carries its sweet, tender texture.
Syrup
Sugar draws moisture from the fruit and sweetens it, preserving the pineapple.
Fine powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and a fine, dry sugar coating for the finished pineapple.

The step that matters

Boiling the pineapple until tender. Cooking must soften the fruit fully before syrup soaking, since undercooked pineapple stays firm and tough. Pricking with a fork lets heat and syrup penetrate the flesh evenly.

Swap the pineapple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (syrup, sugar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Pearfits about as well
  4. Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against syrup, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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