| On
a recent trip to Italy, I noticed something fascinating going
on around me in many of the restaurants I visited. When it
came time for dessert, many native Italians would simply order
fresh pineapple. In one restaurant in Rome, it was ceremoniously
carried out to an enthusiastic table of four on a large sliver
platter; quartered and sliced, left on the rind; it was truly
a work of art. Joe Bastianich once demonstrated for me a flamboyant
method for spiral-slicing pineapple tableside that he saw
in a restaurant in Italy and longed to duplicate here in the
United States. For some time now, I have wondered: what is
it with this Italian love of pineapple?
I longed to find out
if there was a story behind this seemingly steamy relationship
between Italians and pineapple. After much research, it seems
to boil down to this simple fact: Italians love fresh fruit,
and the exotic pineapple remains a perennial favorite. In
fact, they can’t seem to get enough of it. Its no wonder,
pineapple is surely ranked among the rock stars of fruits.
Juicy and sweet, with a meaty texture and palate-cleansing
super-powers, nothing beats the refreshment of a wedge of
fresh pineapple after a large, heavy meal.
Pineapple grows not on trees, but on plants, which require
a warm, dry climate and well-drained soil. There are four
parts of the pineapple plant that are capable of bearing fruit:
the shoot, the slip, the crown, and my personal favorite,
the sucker. The process of growing pineapples requires much
patience. After flowering, the matured fruit is ready to be
picked after 20 long months. Some growers have embraced a
more modern approach and use synthetic hormones to force the
plants to flower and produce fruit more quickly. The process
of picking pineapple, however, is largely still done by hand.
There is a small bit
of history to recount. Christopher Columbus is likely the
first European to come across pineapple in his travels to
the West Indies, bringing them back to Europe with him as
a prized treasure of his conquest. As Europeans continued
to explore the West Indies, Central and South America, they
became enchanted by the fruit and brought it back with them
to be cultivated in hothouses, becoming a favorite of royalty
and wealthy households of privilege and power.
Today, the world’s
major producers of pineapple are Brazil, the Ivory Coast,
China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, South
Africa, Thailand, and the United States. Plantations in Hawaii
produce almost all the pineapples that are grown in the United
States. Availability of fresh pineapple is a luxury we enjoy
year-round, but for me, it is especially welcome in the early
spring, when the apples and pears are gone and before berries
enter the scene.
Enjoying a pineapple is simple. Slice it and eat it. That
being said, I do enjoy serving pineapple warm. Roasting it
is an especially wonderful way to enjoy it. Cooking pineapple
seems to bring out its sweetness, yet it still maintains enough
of its bright acidity to pair well with ice cream and richer
dessert components.
Roasted Pineapple:
1 whole pineapple
3/4 cup to 1 cup light brown sugar
2 T. soft butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 T. Grappa or Amaretto
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Remove the skin and crown of the pineapple, core and cut
into thick half-moon slices. Grease a 13x9 inch roasting pan
with the soft butter. Sprinkle half of the brown sugar on
the bottom, and fan the pineapple slices over it.
3. In a bowl, mix the remaining brown sugar with the cinnamon
an sprinkle it evenly over the surface of the pineapple.
4. Roast the pineapple in the oven until it begins to caramelize
and the juices are bubbly and thickened somewhat. Remove the
pan from the oven and add the optional grappa or amaretto
to the juices.
5. Serve the warm roasted pineapple over ice cream.
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