Pineapple and Pineapple Juice

[Plantes Vertes]

I endeavour to eschew reduplication

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I also have a centrifugal juicer that makes short work of a pineapple. That is, after you wrestle the leaves off with your knife, slash off the skin, painstakingly remove the eyes, hack the thing open, hew into wedges...

 

No need to gouge the eyes if you are making juice.  Butchering a pineapple is easy if you use a serrated knife.

[brinza]

As a big fan of puns, cocktails with really solid puns for names always call to me, especially if there ingredients are also alluring. 

 

Agave Maria (Link)

1.5 Oz Del Maguey Vida Mezcal (Illegal Joven)

1.5 Oz Pineapple Juice

0.75 Oz Lime Juice

1 bsp Fernet Branca

3 ds Peychauds Bitters

0.25 Oz Agave Nectar (Omitted)

Shake with ice, pour into a rocks glass (I misread this and strained)

 

Amazingly, even against Mezcal the Fernet stands out, but this a good thing. Smoke, menthol, and pineapple may seem an odd combo, but they work together brilliantly. I did not miss the agave nectar, the pineapple juice makes this sweet enough for me.

You would love this cocktail book: Tequila Mockingbird.

 

BTW, on the subject of pineapple juice, I use Trader Joe's small cans.  They come in packs of four and are not from concentrate.  It's about as fresh-tasting as a canned juice can be.

[Hassouni]

 I use that too, not bad, though very sweet.

[Tammi Townsley]

I prefer the Lakewood brand of pineapple juice over Dole or other brands.

[Ashen]

I saw a good tip for removing the eyes a while back.  Basically the eyes line up in spiral pattern down the pineapple so a spiral v- groove with a knife can take them out with a minimum of waste.   taking slightly longer , the small side of a melon baller works well and even less waste. 

the  pictures here with give you an idea of what I mean. 

 

https://www.google.ca/search?source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=XJebU-TmINKtyASctIC4DA&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=972&q=removing%20eyes%20from%20pineapple%20v%20groove%20spiral#q=removing+eyes+from+pineapple+v+groove+spiral&tbm=isch

[Smithy]

That's a nice trick, Ashen. Thanks.

[Hassouni]

You would love this cocktail book: Tequila Mockingbird.

 

BTW, on the subject of pineapple juice, I use Trader Joe's small cans.  They come in packs of four and are not from concentrate.  It's about as fresh-tasting as a canned juice can be.

 

TJ's now has back in stock not from concentrate pineapple juice in a carton, much like the 1/2 gal. milk cartons - it's in the refrigerated juice section. It is fantastic - not overly sweet, a bit tart, very light texture. Better than the cans

[Fernet-Bronco]

Wanted to comment on pineapple juicing process since this is something I've been struggling with in my exploration of tiki drinks. The problem, for me, is that when you juice or blend pineapple, you basically just get a delicious, wet fibrous goop that clogs up your strainer, textures the drink, and doesn't measure consistently. It's also a hassle to do in a juicer--we've got a powerful Breville but even still pineapple has sometimes gunked up the blades and required us to stop and clean it mid-juicing.

 

What I've settled on is buying a whole pineapple (Whole Foods sells them whole, denuded and cored for a bit more money than you'd spend on a regular one... saves a ton of hassle for the home cook who doesn't have some poor sap peeling potatoes and pineapples all day), chopping it into strips, and then blending them with an immersion blender in a large shaker tin. That gives you the goop that might be fine in a pina colada, but won't work for non-blended drinks. I've then been straining it using an almond milk bag I bought on Amazon, Ellie's Best*. Works well, extracts a ton of juice, and the pulp left over is basically bone dry and flavorless. One ripe pineapple and ten minutes have yielded me around three cups of juice using this method.

 

*I have no economic interest in this product and am not trying to plug it. It's effective and super easy to clean, and saved my ass straining juices and making orgeat. It greatly exceeded my expectations so I wanted to share.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Wanted to comment on pineapple juicing process since this is something I've been struggling with in my exploration of tiki drinks. The problem, for me, is that when you juice or blend pineapple, you basically just get a delicious, wet fibrous goop that clogs up your strainer, textures the drink, and doesn't measure consistently. It's also a hassle to do in a juicer--we've got a powerful Breville but even still pineapple has sometimes gunked up the blades and required us to stop and clean it mid-juicing.

 

What I've settled on is buying a whole pineapple (Whole Foods sells them whole, denuded and cored for a bit more money than you'd spend on a regular one... saves a ton of hassle for the home cook who doesn't have some poor sap peeling potatoes and pineapples all day), chopping it into strips, and then blending them with an immersion blender in a large shaker tin. That gives you the goop that might be fine in a pina colada, but won't work for non-blended drinks. I've then been straining it using an almond milk bag I bought on Amazon, Ellie's Best*. Works well, extracts a ton of juice, and the pulp left over is basically bone dry and flavorless. One ripe pineapple and ten minutes have yielded me around three cups of juice using this method.

 

*I have no economic interest in this product and am not trying to plug it. It's effective and super easy to clean, and saved my ass straining juices and making orgeat. It greatly exceeded my expectations so I wanted to share.

 

For pineapple try a centrifugal juicer.  They work very well and fast.  (And then are a pain to clean up unless you use filters.)

[Fernet-Bronco]

Yeah, ours is a centrifugal juicer. I've had trouble doing any real volume of pineapple juice in it (a few chunks in a juice blend is fine) since the fiber tends to gunk up the blades and filter quickly. Ignoring this added hassle, side by side with the stick blend and strain method, I feel like it doesn't extract quite as much juice (pulp is wetter in juicer) and the juice has less sediment after hand straining.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Tonight I decided to try the blend and strain method because my Waring juicer is heavy and I only need/needed half a cup of juice.  Next time I'm going back to the Waring.  And I may drag out the Waring yet tonight if I can't get my half cup from this strainer full of gunk.