What the heck is it?
A fermented drink from Mexico which makes excellent use of the gorgeous supply of pineapples that grow abundantly in their hot climate. Pineapple flesh – edible, juicy, delicious. Pineapple skin – inedible (unless you really want to be pooping that out, ouch), tough, not particularly appetising.
So, it’s awesome that some clever cookie decided to pop some pineapple skins in water, add some sugar, a lil cinnamon and create a delicious drink instead! One that (if you leave it to ferment long enough) might even get you a bit tipsy. Winning.
We knew we HAD to try this when we saw that although you can use pineapple flesh you can also use the skin – something which commonly just gets chucked out. The microbes naturally present on the pineapple get down to fermenting so no need to add any kind of starter culture.
If you have a try of this recipe let us know!! We’d love to see some other people’s pics of #fermentsfightingfoodwaste.
Recipe
Ingredients
1 pineapple – washed and skin removed (taking a little flesh with it)
200g brown sugar
1 stick cinnamon (or a couple of cloves)
1 litre water (you might need a touch more)
Equipment
Large kilner jar (or other jar > 1 litre)
Cloth (muslin, cheese, tea towel) and elastic band
Chopping board
Knife
Spoon
Method
1. Pop the sugar in the jar, add a little water and mix until all sugar is dissolved.
2. Add the pineapple skin along with the cinnamon.
3. Top up with water leaving roughly an inch of space from the top.
4. Lay the cloth over the top and secure with the elastic band.
5. Leave for anywhere from 24 hours to 72 hours. The warmer the fermenting spot the faster it happens! Why not enjoy the rest of your tasty pineapple while you wait.
6. The liquid should get cloudy as fermentation takes place and you might get a white-ish scum (this isn’t a bad thing, just scoop it out if you’re not a fan!) We’d recommend tasting every day or so as fermented drinks can go sour pretty damn fast.
7. When it’s to your taste serve over ice and sprinkle over a little extra cinnamon.
Mmm who knew fighting food waste could taste SO GOOD!
NB: we found that ours tasted better fresh so maybe try and drink up within a day or two 😉