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 ↓
Pineapples Peeseeved
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pineapple
Clean the pineapples without removing the rind or leaves.
Place them whole in a large pot and cover with cold water.
Boil until tender enough to pierce with a straw.
Remove from the pot and drain.
Once cool, remove the leaves and pare off the rind.
Cut into ½‑inch thick slices, removing the core.
Weigh the slices and use 1 pound of sugar for each pound of fruit.
Macerate and make the syrup
Layer sugar and pineapple slices in a deep dish, finishing with sugar on top.
Let stand for 24 hours, then drain the syrup.
Boil and strain the syrup until scum ceases to rise.
Pour the hot syrup over the pineapple slices and cover.
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
- Pineapples
- Provide the fruit that is softened by boiling and then preserved in sugar syrup.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and, drawn out as syrup, preserves it by drawing moisture from the slices.
The step that matters
Boil and strain the syrup until scum ceases to rise. Skimming the scum while the syrup boils removes impurities that would cloud the syrup and spoil the preserve. Sugar must also fully dissolve so the syrup is clear and stable.
“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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