Why it works: Sugar and pineapple 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 Glace
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pineapple
Cut pineapple into ¾ inch thick slices and stand them on edge in a sunny, airy place until the surface is dry.
Run a wire through each pineapple slice, twisting the ends to form a loop.
Make the syrup
In a saucepan, combine 2 cups sugar, ¾ cup water, and a piece of paraffin the size of a hickory nut.
Boil the mixture without stirring until it forms threads when dripped from a spoon.
Glaze and dry
Dip each slice into the syrup, then hang them to drain over a dish to catch drippings.
Ensure the slices do not touch and let the wind blow on them until dry and cold.
Once dry, layer the slices in granulated sugar.
Store the remaining syrup tightly covered for future use.
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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Sugar + pineappletop 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
- Sugar
- Forms the syrup that hardens into a glossy, sweet, crisp coating on the fruit.
- Pineapple
- Provides the fruit base that the sugar glaze coats and preserves.
- Paraffin
- Added to the syrup in small amount to help keep the glaze clear and glossy.
The step that matters
Boil the syrup to the thread stage without stirring. Sugar syrup must reach the right concentration to set into a firm, glossy glaze when cooled. Stirring can trigger crystallisation, leaving a grainy coating instead of a smooth one.
“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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