Rock cakes with candied pineapple

Bandon Grove School Building Centenary Cookbook 1882-1982 reprinted in 2016 to celebrate the “Back to Bandon Grove School Gathering”.

“The Bandon Grove School Building Centenary Committee are proud to present, recipes that have been tried and proved and an advertisement for the culinary skill of their members and residents, past and present.” A. P. Forster

Wholemeal rock cakes (recipe contributed by Jean Jenkins)

2 cups wholemeal flour; 4 ozs melted margarine; 1 egg; ½ cup raw sugar; 1 cup mixed fruit; ½ cup milk 

Method: Combine all ingredients in bowl, add melted margarine and mix till all ingredients combines. Place spoonfuls on greased trays, sprinkle with extra sugar, bake in mod. Hot oven (375⁰F) for 15 mins or until golden. Makes approx. 20

I made these with a few variations to the recipe - I used white self raising flour and white sugar, and I included some candied pineapple with raisins for the mixed fruit, Anne

Tried, tested and true!!

Book Review of: Liz Harfull's Tried, Tested and True.  

Allen and Unwin, Australia 2018.

Treasured recipes and untold stories from Australia’s community cookbooks.

This is a wonderful book written by Liz Harfull. 

The South Australian writer and food historian has researched her large collection of community recipe books to distil the essence of food and hospitality in (mostly) regional Australia since the late 19^th century. 

Liz writes about the well known PMWU and CWA cookbooks, the historic Goulburn Cookery Book, and there are recipe books to raise funds for hospitals, schools, sporting clubs and churches. There are others to assist home cooks in isolated places, new cooks and anyone looking for inspiration. For all of these often forgotten books, Liz provides a story or two, some history and tested recipes.

Liz’s book honours all those home cooks who used their culinary skills to raise funds and assist others in their communities.

Our favourite section is the pages Liz so generously devotes to the Pineapple Princesses.  She gives a good history of this blog and shows off one of our most popular recipes, pineapple fruit cake.

In exciting news, Tried Tested and True was shortlisted for an international Gourmand Award in 2019. There were thousands of entries from more than two hundred countries.  We are delighted to announce that after making a final shortlist of nine books, Tried, Tested and True came equal third in the Food Inheritance category of the awards. 

Liz said that the International Gourmand Award is “described by their Paris-based organisers as the food culture equivalent of the Olympics, the awards honour the best food and wine books, magazines, digital content and publishers from around the world. The 2019 round attracted thousands of entries from more than 200 countries. A long-list of finalists was announced late last year, with my book being named the Australian winner in two categories - best book based around an aspect of food heritage, in which it is now short-listed, and easy home recipes, Ann.

Well done Liz Harfull, Ann and Anne

The Liberated Cook by the Reluctant Housewife to aid research into Muscular Dystrophy NSW

Pineapple Fruit Cake

   

A moist cake with canned pineapple.

1 cup sugar; 500g can crushed pineapple; 500g mixed fruit; 1 tspn bicarbonate soda; 1 tspn mixed spice; 125g butter or margarine; 1 cup plain flour; 1 cup self-raising flour; 2 eggs

Place sugar, whole contents of can of pineapple, chopped mixed fruit, bicarbonate soda, spice and butter in saucepan. Bring to the boil and boil 3 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely.

Sift flours together. Mix into cold fruits mixture with well-beaten eggs. Place mixture in greased and lined 20cm tin. Bake in a moderate oven 180°C for approximately 1 ½ hours, reduce heat to 150°C and bake further 20-30 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Cool in tin.

Pineapple hummingbird cake

Unforgettable: a coconut cookbook, including Fiji dishes, Three Loose Coconuts 2004

“He who plants a coconut tree plants food and drink, vessels and clothing, a habitation for himself and a heritage for his children” South Seas proverb

Pecan hummingbird cake   “fruity, nutty … and oh-so tropical!”

1 ½ cups plain flour; ½ cup self-raising flour; 1 1/3 cups castor sugar; 1 tsp ground nutmeg; 1 tsp baking powder; salt to taste; 2/3 cup desiccated coconut; 1 cup chopped pecan nuts; 2 eggs; ½ cup vegetable oil; ½ cup butter (unsalted, melted); 2/3 cup banana (mashed, ripe); 1 cup crushed pineapple (drained from tin); 1 tsp natural vanilla essence; half pecan nuts and flaked coconut for decoration

Method:

1 Sift flours, sugar, spice, soda, powder and salt in a large bowl. Add coconut and nuts. Mix well

2 In a separate bowl, hand-beat eggs, oil and butter

3 Mix in already-mashed bananas, drained pineapple and vanilla

4 Add wet mix to dry. Combine well

5 Pour into greased cake tin, either one 22cm square cake tin, or two 12cm x 22cm tins

6 Decorate top with a few pecan nuts. Sprinkle generously with coconut flakes

7 Bake at 180⁰C for 20-25 minutes (small), 30-35 minutes (large), or until cooked when tested

8 Let cake stand in tin for 15 minutes before turning out and cooling on a rake

9 Cake is best refrigerated overnight … if you can wait!

I made a couple of changes to the recipe - I made it gluten free, in a ring tin, and with shredded coconut rather than flakes, it was delicious, Anne

An archive with pineapples

                                           

These beautiful watercolours of pineapples are part of an archive of over 7,500 paintings, drawings, and wax models commissioned by the US Department of Agriculture between 1886 and 1942.

To read more about this valuable collection click here:

http://www.openculture.com/2019/06/the-us-government-commissioned-7500-watercolor-paintings.html?fbclid=IwAR1Sr9trrGUssmi21XYGw-lpkK8XtJamUMxZmFh7SB1fcg9TxNrWISxWvks

‘The word “pomology,” “the science and practice of growing fruit,” first appeared in 1818, and the degree to which people depended on fruit trees and fruit stores made it a distinctively popular science, as was so much agriculture at the time,’ Josh Jones.

These particular watercolours were painted by James Marion Shull in 1919 of pineapples (Ananas comosus) from Cuba and the USA

To view more watercolours from this archive click here:

https://usdawatercolors.nal.usda.gov/pom/home.xhtml

U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705

Cheers! Seven years of the Pineapple Princesses!

Ann and I launched this tribute blog to Ruby Borrowdale, the home economist behind the Golden Circle Tropical Recipe Book seven years ago today with a recipe for Sweet and Pungent Lamb. 

After cooking our way through the entire book we continued to find pineapple recipes from many different, mostly retro sources. It still provides challenges and amusement so I imagine the Pineapple Princesses may still be going strong with new additions to the approximately 700 recipes already collected in another seven years time, Anne.

   

The Singapore Sling was first created by a bartender at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore

Here, Greg the bartender, mixes up his own delectable version !

"Easy . . . equal parts . . .  I used nip/shot glass.    

One nip gin, one nip pineapple juice, a squeeze of lime and the remainder tonic water . . . pour over ice in shaker.... shake . . . and garnish with a wedge of lime."

Rodney the bartender, at the Penrith Panthers Club, preparing a delicious 'Stormy Monday'  of pineapple juice, a dash of Bitters, Malibu, Southern Comfort and a wedge of pineapple.

This delicious FRENCH MARTINI was imbibed at The Flying Duck Restaurant, Vacy NSW: 
a combo of pineapple juice, Vodka and Chambord

Cin cin!

One bowl Pineapple Bread

https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2018/08/23/pineapple-bread-recipe/

“Eating this sweet and moist pineapple bread is like being on your own little tropical island…” Katie

One bowl Pineapple Bread

Ingredients: 2 cups spelt, white, or oat flour; 1 tsp baking soda; 3/4 tsp baking powder; 3/4 tsp salt; 1 1/2 cups overripe mashed banana; 1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained; 1/2 cup pure maple syrup, honey, or agave; 3 tbsp coconut milk or milk of choice; 3 tbsp oil OR additional milk of choice; 2 tsp pure vanilla extract; optional 1/4 tsp coconut extract; optional walnuts, shredded coconut

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan or line with parchment. Combine first 4 ingredients in a bowl, adding shredded coconut and/or crushed nuts if desired. Add all remaining ingredients, stir to form a batter (do not overmix), and smooth into prepared pan.

Bake on the center rack 25 minutes, then do not open the oven door at all but turn off the heat and let sit in the closed oven 10 additional minutes. If it’s still undercooked at this time, simply turn the oven back on and continue baking—checking every 5 minutes–until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean. Let cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The taste and texture are much better the second day, so I highly recommend waiting if you can. Leftovers can be sliced and frozen for up to a month.

I made a few adaptations to this recipe as I was on a farm and unable to access all the ingredients and the bananas were calling out to be used! So, I used 1 cup gluten free plain flour and 1 cup gluten free self-raising flour, ½ tsp baking soda and no baking powder, instead of the maple syrup/honey I used ½ cup rice bran syrup, ½ cup milk and no oil. Sadly, I had no shredded coconut. Otherwise everything else is the same, and it tasted great, Anne