Image is for illustrative purposes only.
Candied pineapple is fresh pineapple cooked slowly in a heavy sugar syrup until the flesh turns translucent and the fruit is preserved right through. The sugar replaces most of the water in the fruit, so the cubes stay soft and chewy rather than wet, and they keep for months without refrigeration.
The flavour is bright and tropical with a clean sour edge from the citric acid, which stops the syrup crystallising and keeps the pineapple tasting like fruit instead of pure sugar. Diced small, it is one of the best fruits to fold through fruit cakes, tea cakes, stollen and panettone, and the larger pieces are good for decorating or dipping in chocolate.
Ingredients
The weights in the recipe table below will yield the following 'weight per unit' and 'number of units'. If you would like to change the recipe to cater to a different 'weight per unit' and/or 'number of units',
you can use the Recipe Calculator Tool below the ingredients table.
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Weight Per Unit: 1053
Number of Units: 1
Unit Size: about 850 g of finished candied pineapple cubes
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WEIGHT
(grams)
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ALTERNATIVE METRIC
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INGREDIENT
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IMAGE
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CONDITION
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A
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500 |
17.6 ounces
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Fresh Pineapple
Fresh pineapple is the peeled, cored flesh of a ripe pineapple. The weight here is the prepared yield, so buy a whole fruit of around 1.5 to 2 kg to end up with this much usable flesh.
peeled and cored weight
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cut into 1 cm cubes |
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B
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500 |
17.6 ounces
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Sugar
Sugar is the generalized name for sweet, short-chain, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. They are carbohydrates, composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. There are various types of sugar derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose (also known as dextrose), fructose and galactose. The table or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide. (In the body, sucrose hydrolyses into fructose and glucose.) Other disaccharides include maltose and lactose. Longer chains of sugars are called oligosaccharides. Chemically-different substances may also have a sweet taste, but are not classified as sugars. Some are used as lower-calorie food substitutes for sugar described as artificial sweeteners.
caster sugar
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C
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2.5 |
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Citric Acid
Citric acid is the natural acid found in lemons and other citrus fruit, sold as fine white crystals or powder. A small pinch sharpens the flavour of sugar syrups and helps stop them crystallising during storage.
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D
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50 |
1.8 ounces
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Glucose Syrup
Glucose syrup, also known as confectioner's glucose, is a syrup made from the hydrolysis of starch. Glucose is a sugar. Maize (corn) is commonly used as the source of the starch in the US, in which case the syrup is called "corn syrup", but glucose syrup is also made from potatoes and wheat, and less often from barley, rice and cassava.
Glucose syrup containing over 90% glucose is used in industrial fermentation, but syrups used in confectionery contain varying amounts of glucose, maltose and higher oligosaccharides, depending on the grade, and can typically contain 10% to 43% glucose. Glucose syrup is used in foods to sweeten, soften texture and add volume. By converting some of the glucose in corn syrup into fructose (using an enzymatic process), a sweeter product, high fructose corn syrup can be produced.
43 baumé
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1052
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Recipe Calculator Tool
Using this tool, you can alter this recipe for your own requirements. Use the two fields below to generate new weights for the ingredients above.
STEP 1. Enter your Custom Weight Per Unit
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STEP 3. Click Calculate
The new weights for your adjusted recipe will be displayed in the table above.
Method
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STEP
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ACTION
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DETAIL
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CONDITION
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1 |
Prepare |
Peel A (fresh pineapple), remove the eyes and the hard core, and cut the flesh into even 1 cm cubes. Even sizing matters more than the exact size. |
All pieces roughly the same size so they candy at the same rate |
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2 |
Macerate |
Layer the pineapple cubes with B (caster sugar) in a bowl or wide pan, cover, and leave overnight in a cool place. |
The sugar draws out the juice and forms its own syrup; no water is added |
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3 |
Heat |
Tip the fruit and all the syrup into a wide, heavy pan, add D (glucose syrup) and bring slowly to a gentle simmer, stirring only until the sugar has dissolved. |
Sugar fully dissolved before it comes to the boil, so it will not crystallise |
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4 |
Simmer |
Simmer very gently for about 10 minutes, then stir in C (citric acid). Take the pan off the heat, cover, and leave to stand overnight at room temperature. |
Fruit still holding its shape, syrup thin and clear |
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5 |
Repeat |
On each of the next two or three days, bring the pan back to a gentle simmer for 10 minutes and then leave it to stand again overnight. |
Each day the syrup thickens and the cubes turn more translucent |
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6 |
Finish |
On the last day simmer until the syrup is heavy and coats the fruit, around 108°C (226°F) on a sugar thermometer. |
Cubes glassy and translucent right through to the centre |
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7 |
Drain |
Pour the fruit into a sieve set over a bowl and leave to drain for several hours. Keep the drained syrup for soaking sponges. |
Most of the loose syrup run off, fruit still tacky |
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8 |
Dry |
Spread the cubes in a single layer on a rack or baking paper and leave in a warm, airy place for 12 to 24 hours, or in an oven at its lowest setting with the door ajar. |
Surface dry and no longer sticky to the fingers |
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9 |
Store |
Pack into clean, dry airtight jars or containers. |
Keeps for several months in a cool, dark cupboard |
Important Notes
This batch starts with about 1 kg of raw mixture and finishes at roughly 850 g of drained candied fruit, as the pineapple loses water during cooking. The candying is spread over three or four days, but each day's work is only about ten minutes of simmering — the standing time does the job. Do not rush it with hard boiling: fast cooking toughens the fruit and makes it shrink. The citric acid is there to keep the syrup from crystallising and to balance the sweetness, so weigh it carefully; the small amount matters. Do not throw away the drained syrup — it is excellent for soaking sponges. Dice the finished fruit smaller if you are folding it through a fruit cake or tea cake batter, and dust it lightly with flour taken from the recipe so it stays suspended.
Tools & Arrangements
Sharp knife and chopping board, large bowl, wide heavy-based saucepan, sugar thermometer, sieve, cooling rack or baking paper, airtight jars or containers
