Pineapple Flowers

Thanks Julia for alerting the Pineapple Princesses to the delicate delights of dried pineapple flowers.

I had a go – hmmmm – my niece and culinary wiz Katrina had a go and voilà! If they tasted anywhere near as delicious as Katrina’s dehydrated mango slices they would be delectable!

They’re beautiful Katrina, thanks!

Katrina used a dehydrator but if you don’t have one here are some quirky instructions on making them in an oven.

On a less mouth-watering note, Katrina’s husband Tom recently reminded me of this hard-to-believe-anyone-even-thought-it-up recipe for a Liver Sausage Pineapple from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook 1960s!

Mix 1 pound liver sausage with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, 1/4 cup mayonnaise. Shape around a jelly glass. Soften 2 teaspoons unflavored gelatine in 2 tablespoons cold water, dissolve over hot water; add 1 cup mayonnaise; chill. Frost “pineapple,” score; stud with sliced stuffed olives. Top with real pineapple top.

http://www.owlsonthetable.com/the-worst-recipe-ive-ever-met/

Why Tom was looking at the “world’s worst recipe” I don't know, but I hope he wasn’t cooking dinner that night! Anne.

The loaves and the pineapples

Family Favourites with currants, sultanas, seeded raisins, c1950s Melbourne. Published by The Australian Dried Fruits Association as a service to housewives.

Sultana and Pineapple Loaf

1 cup sultanas; 1 tblspn butter; 1 beaten egg; ¼ cup sugar; ¾ cup milk; ½ cup crushed drained pineapple; 2 cups flour; 3 level tspns baking powder; ¼ tspn salt

Sift flour, salt and baking powder three times. Cream butter and sugar, add egg and beat well. Stir in milk and dry ingredients, then pineapple and sultanas. Place in greased loaf tin and bake in a moderate oven for 1 to 1 ¼ hours.

I discovered this lovely stove at a recent garage sale, in an original 1952 kitchen. I returned the next day with morning tea so I could take a photo! I hope the new owners don't want to renovate, Anne.

The Australian Women’s Weekly presents . . . Cakes for all occasions from our Leila Howard Test Kitchen 1971

Cherry Fruit Cake

“With colourful cherries, fruit, and crystallised pineapple, this cake keeps well; it can be made 2 weeks in advance.”

250g butter or substitute; 1 cup castor sugar; 1 tspn grated lemon rind; ½ tspn vanilla; 2 tblspn rum or brandy; 4 eggs; 250g glace cherries; 100g sultanas; 100g seeded raisins; 100g crystallised pineapple; 2 ½ plain flour; 1 tspn baking powder; ¼ tspn salt; ¼ cup milk

Cream butter and sugar with vanilla and lemon rind until soft, white and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Halve cherries. Fold in fruit and rum. Fold in sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk. Turn into 20cm round cake tin lined with greased paper. Bake in moderate oven 1 ½ hours or until cooked when tested. Cool in tine on wire rack.

Pineapples Galore!

All the way from Hawaii! Thanks Kathryn, she's just gooooorgeous!!! Anne.

Hawaiian Baked Beans with Pineapple

The pineapple cookbook, 12 favourite recipes from the Dole kitchen, Honolulu, Hawaii

HAWAIIAN BAKED BEANS AND FRANKS

1 1/2 cups drained Dole Crushed Pineapple (No. 2 or 450g can)

 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

 2 tablespoons brown sugar

 1 tablespoon catsup

 1 teaspoon prepared mustard

 2 cans (450g) baked beans

 1 lb. (8-10) frankfurters, sliced into 1-inch pieces

Drain pineapple well. Combine pineapple with remaining ingredients in a 2-quart casserole. Bake in a preheated 180°C oven for an hour. Makes 6-8 servings.

Zombie Pineapple

The Art of Eating Through the Zombie Apocalypse: a cookbook and culinary survival guide by Lauren Wilson, illustrated by Kristian Bauthus 2014 USA

If you’re looking for a guide to foraging, hunting or aquatic farming in a ravaged landscape this “epicurean’s apocalyptic toolkit” packed with “skills for the hungry survivor” will be just the thing! 

This useful and fun publication with wonderful illustrations may well appeal to the true zombie-believers in your household. If squirrel jerky, roasted crickets or mealworm fried rice doesn't appeal they may find the sections on filtering captured water, building a mud oven or identifying edible plants handy in their time of need.

Living Off the (Waste)land: Twinkie Trifle

“If I found a Twinkie while scavenging the wasteland during the zombie apocalypse, it would probably be ripped from its packaging and shoved in my face faster than you can say “Hostess” Lauren Wilson.

Yields: 1 Hungry Survivor or Regular Joe serving

Requires: 1 bowl

Time:  5 minutes prep

Ingredients: 3 Hostess Twinkies; 2 tblspn canned pineapple juice (optional, if available); 2 packets fruit jam; (or 2 tblspn); ½ single-serve vanilla pudding pack; 2 tblspn marshmallow fluff (optional, if available)

Method: 

1 Lay the Twinkies at the bottom of a small bowl

2 Drizzle the pineapple juice (if available) over the caked to moisten them, then sprtead a thin layer of fruit jam over the top

3 Cover with half the [pudding pack. Top with marshmallow fluff, if available. Enjoy immediately.

Ky with his housemates Jorge and Daniel relishing their Twinkie Trifles during a rehearsal for the Apocalypse!

The guys then confirmed my ignorance (I had never eaten a Twinkie!) on zombie culture by telling me about ‘Zombieland’ (American film 2009) in which Twinkies have a starring role! Anne.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px-CBHd0miI

Pineapple Cocktail Hour.

I was hunting for some eager volunteers to test out my shiny new-but-genuine-retro cocktail shaker (thanks for the wonderful Christmas present Colleen and Richard!) when our son Ky suggested that free alcohol would always be welcomed by his housemates! He was right! Anne.

Party Prescriptions, compiled for your pleasure. All proceeds 1st Red Hill Scout Group Building Fund, Canberra 1963 

Rum Base Cocktails – Pineapple Fizz

1 glass Rum; 2 tblspn powdered sugar; 2 tblspn pineapple juice

     

To serve: Shake well in ice, strain into glass and fill with soda water

Pineapples, Passion Fruit and Poi: Recipes from Hawaii by Mary Lou Gebhard & William H. Butler, Illustrations by Hide Doki, 1967

Haleakala Specter

“Atop Haleakala one may see himself reflected in the rainbow there … Even sober persons can see their reflections there. Let us know what you see after a couple of these” Mary Lou Gebhard & William H. Butler.

2 tblspn rum; 1 tblspn pineapple juice; ½ tblspn lemon juice; ½ tsp brown sugar

Shake without ice. Pour into glass filled with crushed ice. Decorate with slice of orange. Serve in highball glass.

Ky, Daniel and Jorg’s inventive blend.

Crush together 1 tspn brown sugar with “a whole bunch of orange zest” in a bowl

Add ½ standard shot of rum (“for moisture, to get a nice thing going”)

The preferred method of “mulling” would be with a mortar and pestle but as they don’t have one . . . they improvised with a bowl and spoon

Tip into the cocktail shaker with a “whole lot of pineapple juice” and the juice of ½ orange squeezed in with the “brute force of a man” (Ky's words not mine!)

½ shot rum (however there was some disagreement about this, so whatever you think is a good thing)

2 shots Malibu coconut blended rum (this turned out to be a great flavour decision)

A splash of orange and mango juice  

“Shake it like a Polaroid picture” (which apparently is a quote from an Outcasts' song, fancy me not knowing that!) 

The evening was alot of fun - thanks guys!

I managed to get these two photos out of focus even before I tasted their concoction!

Pineapple fruit salad

Cooking For Brides by Ted Moloney, drawings by George Molnar 1965  

“With sweets dinner ends on a light, gay note.With wine we are mellow. With your good food we are almost perfectly replete. Serious discussions, if any, have ended with the main course. From now on the conversation becomes bubbling, especially if there is champagne. Your sweet course, when it comes to the table, must heighten the stimulation. It has to be light, flippant, delicious – without a care for you.”

“Fruit Salads. These look their best served in a clear crystal bowl. Through the crystal you can see the fruits arranged layer upon layer of different colours. A layer of pineapple. On top of this a layer of bananas. A layer of very ripe apricots or peaches. To complete the rainbow, ripe, red strawberries all over the top. . . never have a great multiplicity of fruits. . . never chop your fruit up into tiny confetti-like pieces. . . be generous with sugar.”

Encyclopedia of Creative Cooking, a step-by-step guide to the world’s best cooking, Volume 5 Vegetables, Sydney 1979

Tropical Fruit Cup, Africa

1 ripe pawpaw; 1 banana; 1 cup diced pineapple, fresh or canned and drained; 1 small mango; 2 pieces preserved ginger; finely chopped; 1 tblspn medium sherry; juice 1 lime

1 Peel all the fruit and dice, Place in bowl.

2 Mix in the preserved ginger and pour over the sherry and lime juice. Chill in the refrigerator.

Serves 6.