Fresh Pineapple Syrup Recipe

By
Stella Parks
Stella Parks
Stella Parks
Editor Emeritus
Stella Parks is a CIA-trained baking nerd and pastry wizard, dubbed one of America's Best New Pastry Chefs by Food & Wine. She was the pastry editor at Serious Eats from 2016 to 2019.
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Updated Mar. 19, 2020
20180625-pineapple-syrup-vicky-wasik-10
Photograph: Vicky Wasik

Why It Works

  • Pineapple cores are acidic enough to dissolve up to half their weight in sugar, imparting a strong flavor and vivid color without any added water, flavoring, or dye.
  • A single lemon rind balances the natural sweetness of pineapple.
  • The molasses-y notes in raw or semi-refined sugars add complementary complexity to the tropical fruit.
  • Nonreactive equipment keeps the syrup's flavor clean and fresh.

Fresh pineapple is a luxury of its own, so make the most of it by putting the core (and eyelets) to good use in this fresh, no-cook syrup. The acidic juice in the fruit scraps is more than enough to dissolve the sugar, creating a thick and flavorful liquid. Plain or toasted sugar works well, but the complexity of raw or semi-raw sugar, like jaggery and palm sugar, or even turbinado and Demerara, is an especially good match for pineapple. Use this syrup as a mixer in your favorite cocktails, or for a pineapple twist on Lemon Chantilly and Crispy Candied Pistachios.

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Recipe Facts

4

(5)

Active: 10 mins
Total: 4 hrs
Makes: 1/2 cup

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Ingredients

  • 6 ounces diced pineapple core and pips (about 2/3 cup; 170g), from 1 medium pineapple
  • 3 ounces (85g) "used" lemon or lime (the leftover rind after juicing), diced, from 1 medium citrus
  • 4 1/2 ounces raw or semi-raw sugar (about a heaping 1/2 cup; 115g), such as jaggery, turbinado, Demerara, or palm sugar (see note)

Directions

  1. Toss the pineapple and lemon rind with the sugar in a large glass, ceramic, or stainless steel mixing bowl. Cover tightly and let stand at room temperature, stirring once every 45 minutes or so, until sugar has completely dissolved, about 4 hours (or up to 12 hours if timing is an issue).

  2. Strain fruit scraps through a fine-mesh stainless steel strainer set over a nonreactive bowl, pressing and mashing on the fruit with a flexible spatula to extract as much syrup as possible; discard scraps. Use immediately or refrigerate syrup for up to 3 months in a glass bottle or pint jar.

Special equipment

Fine-mesh strainer

Notes

If the raw sugar is not in granular form, or if the crystals are especially large and coarse, grind the sugar in a food processor until the grain size is quite fine.

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