Last weekend we had people come to stay, one of whom has some strict dietary requirements.  One of the acceptable things to eat was pineapple, so I decided to experiment with it a little.  Here in Tasmania the pineapples were quite expensive,  so it made me all the more determined to make good use of them.

The result was a Pineapple Cordial Syrup and also Fillet of Pork with Pineapple and Peppers.  The advantage of the syrup is that it can be made from the cores and skins.  I used 2 pineapples in all to make the two recipes.  I cut up the flesh for eating purposes from them, and some of that also went into the Pork dish.   All the rest, skins and cores were used for the cordial.  Here is the recipe for the syrup – I’ll put the recipe for the pork up in my next post.

Pineapple Cordial Syrup

 1.5kg pineapple cores, peels and flesh

2 cups water

Juice and rind 1 large lemon

Sugar

2 teaspoons tartaric acid

Chop the pineapple roughly and place in food processor.  Process until the pieces are quite fine.  Pour into a saucepan with the water.  Bring to the boil and barely simmer for 15 minutes.

Strain though a colander, then the resulting liquid through a finer sieve, pressing down to extract maximum juice.  To each cup of liquid (there will be about 3 cups) add 1 cup of sugar.  Bring up to the boil and simmer one minute.  Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice and rind, along with the tartaric acid.  Leave to cool.  Strain through a fine kitchen sieve, then pour into bottles.

To serve use one part syrup to 4 parts water.

In warmer climates or in summer keep in the fridge.