Cocktails with Pineapple
Pineapple is a sweet, tart tropical fruit, and it goes into drinks two ways: as juice and as muddled or blended flesh.
How it's used
Fresh juice is the reason a good tiki drink arrives with a head on it. Shake it hard and it foams almost the way egg white does, and holds that foam longer than citrus juice. Canned juice, heated on its way into the tin, keeps the flavor but foams less. Fresh pineapple also carries bromelain, an enzyme that digests protein. It thins cream and curdles dairy, turning it bitter, so serve a fresh-pineapple shake at once. Heat destroys the enzyme, so canned fruit is the safer pick with dairy.
Substitutes for Pineapple
Canned pineapple in juice
Drain it and swap one for one. A chunk weighs about 15 g. It is noticeably sweeter than fresh, but the safer pick with milk or cream.
Pineapple in heavy syrup
It has 1.5–1.7 times the sugar of fresh, so rinse the chunks first.
Frozen pineapple chunks
If unsweetened, they work in blended drinks in the same amount.
Pineapple purée
Thicker than juice and close to muddled fruit. Weigh out the same amount as the fresh chunks.
Canned pineapple juice
Gives the pineapple flavor but not the body of the flesh.
