Why it works: Pineapple and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,841 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Pineapple-ade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pineapple
Pare and slice the pineapples, then cut the slices into small pieces.
Put the pineapple pieces and their juice into a large pitcher and sprinkle with plenty of powdered sugar.
Make the infusion
Pour boiling water over the mixture, using ½ cup of water for each pineapple.
Cover the pitcher and let it cool, occasionally pressing down the pineapple with a spoon.
Chill the pitcher in ice for a while.
Strain the infusion into another vessel and pour it into tumblers.
Add more sugar and a bit of ice to each glass before serving.
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.
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Pineapple + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Very ripe pineapples
- Provide the main fruit flavour and the juice that forms the base of the ade.
- Powdered white sugar
- Sweetens the drink and draws juice out of the pineapple as it sits.
- Boiling water
- Extracts flavour and colour from the pineapple pieces into the liquid.
- Ice
- Chills the finished drink so it is refreshing when served.
The step that matters
Letting the pineapple infuse while cooling. Pressing the fruit down while it cools keeps the pieces submerged so more flavour and juice pass into the water. Covering the pitcher holds in aroma. Skipping this stage leaves a weaker, less fragrant ade.
“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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