Pineapple Punch

Adapted from South African Recipes facebook page

Ingredients:

2 cups pineapple juice; 2 cups orange juice; 2 cups ginger ale; pineapple and orange slices, cranberries for garnish; 2 cups of cranberry juice (optional)

Directions:

In a large pitcher or punch bowl, combine juices.

Stir in ginger ale just before serving to keep the fizz.

Garnish with fresh pineapple and orange slices, and cranberries for a festive touch.

Pour over ice, serve and enjoy!

Muesli Buttermilk Rusks, with pineapple

Inspired by Sally Andrew’s novel “Recipes for love and murder” and adapted from https://heinstirred.com/tannie-marias-muesli-buttermilk-rusks/

Tannie Maria’s Muesli Buttermilk Rusks

INGREDIENTS

2 cups plain flour, I used gluten free; 1 tblsp baking powder; 1 tsp salt; 4 tblsp toasted muesli; 3 tblspn sultanas, cranberries and chopped dried pineapple; 3 tblsp sunflower seeds; 1 tblsp desiccated coconut; ¾ tblsp linseeds; ¾ tblsp sesame seeds; ¾ tblsp pumpkin seeds; 8 tblsp brown sugar; 2 eggs; 175 ml milk; 175 g butter melted

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Grease a 30 x 40cm tin.

Mix all the dry ingredients together.

Beat the eggs and mix in the milk and melted butter.

Add the dry ingredients and mix well.

Spoon the mixture into the tin about 3cm thick and bake for about 45 - 60 minutes until cooked through and a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Leave to cool slightly before turning out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Once cool, cut into rusks, about 2cm thick or as you prefer.

Dry overnight in a warming drawer or in a 80-100°C oven for about 4 - 6 hours or longer until hard and dried out.

(Place them straight onto the oven racks to dry and you might have to do this in batches depending on the size of your oven).

Store in an airtight container.

I couldn't work out why you would want to dry these out in the oven for hours and hours when they tasted perfectly delicious as a fresh slice . . . until I tried it . . . and they were doubly yum, especially on the day they were made but, they store really well, just get a little crunchier with time, Anne

South African party pineapples!

Adventures with cheese and butter 1974 Pretoria, South Africa

“Be choosey! Today you can choose from a greater variety of South African cheese than ever before. Something for every taste … a selection for every occasion …smooth, subtly-flavoured cheese … creamy, aromatically-spiced cheese … crisp, sharply flavoured cheese!

Don’t just stick to the old favourites. Experimenting with the different varieties is an exciting adventure, and there are more than 34 different varieties of South African cheese to choose from.

Be known as a connoisseur of cheese.”

Note the pineapple at the "cheese-and-wine stork party"!

Bit of action happening in the background of this candle lit "cheese-and-wine party"!

And there's “a cheese-and-apple-juice party for teenagers” too!

Shelford Pineapple Party-Time, Shelford Pineapple Farms, 1971 South Africa

Shelford Pineapple Cocktail Snacks:                              
Celery sticks with pineapple           

Celery; 3 oz cream-cheese; 2 tblspn onto each stick of celery and sprinkle it with paprika; finely chopped Shelford pineapple; 1 tblspn finely chopped gherkins; 1 tblspn salad cream or mayonnaise; salt & paprika to taste

Scrub the celery and cut it into 2” sticks. Mix the cream-cheese, pineapple, gherkins and mayonnaise. Season the mixture to taste. Pile more cream-cheese mixture onto each stick of celery and sprinkle it with paprika.

Shelford pineapple with salami

Pineapple; French dressing; sliced salami; a few gherkins

Cut the pineapple into pieces of about 1” in length and ½” thick. Dip each piece of pineapple in a little French dressing & wrap it in a piece of thinly sliced salami. Secure each salami roll with a toothpick & a small piece of gherkin.

Nutty pineapple bites

2 tblspn mayonnaise; pinch of curry powder; cubes of Shelford pineapple; finely chopped walnuts

Cover the pineapple cubes with this & roll them in finely chopped walnuts. Put a cocktail stick through each & serve them, with other cocktail snacks, stuck into half a grapefruit, or any other centrepiece.

Savoury stuffed dates

1 tblspn cream-cheese; 1 tblspn chopped Shelford pineapple; 1 tspn chopped gherkins; stoned dates; paprika

Mix the cream-cheese, pineapple and gherkin. Stuff the dates with the mixture & sprinkle with paprika.