Summer is in full swing around here, although lately we seem to have more rainy days than sunny. I don’t let that stop us from having fun and enjoying fresh fruits and summer treats! This simple summer recipe is similar to an Italian ice or a pineapple sorbet. The only ingredient you will need is one ripe pineapple! Can’t get much simpler than that! You can skip adding any sugar or extra sweetness because ripe pineapples are plenty sweet on their own. Usually you can find pineapples cheaper this time of year which is an added bonus. I usually pick up two at a time because they are so versatile. We love chunks of pineapple added to our shish kabobs, fruit skewers, sliced pineapple on the grill, in smoothies, or just fresh from the cutting board – it’s a great fruit in so many ways.
Pineapple Ice
Ingredients:
One fresh pineapple, well maybe little water too.
You will need a good food processor or blender as well. You could also make this in an ice cream maker, but I just did it in the food processor and it worked fine.
Directions:
Lay the pineapple down on a cutting board and carefully cut it almost in half, leaving the stem attached to the bottom half. It’s better if the bottom half is a little larger than the top half that you are cutting off. Try to make your bottom section (with stem attached) as even as possible to resemble a bowl to hold your pineapple ice.
Cut lengthwise and crosswise on the bottom half of the pineapple, just through the flesh of the fruit and not through the skin. Again, you want to preserve the skin and stem to be able to hold your pineapple ice.
Repeat this process of cutting a grid in the top half of the pineapple so that you can remove the skin and get all the fruit out. It’s ok if you cut or mangle the shell/skin of the top half since you won’t need it for your presentation.
Now with a spoon, carefully scoop out all the pineapple from both the bottom half and the top half and place it into your food processor or blender.
Try to pour any remaining juice from the pineapple into your food processor. If you don’t seem to get any juice, add about 1/3 C of water to the food processor along with your pineapple.
Set your bottom half of pineapple aside for now. If you do accidentally tear or cut the shell of your bottom half of the pineapple like I did :), you can use toothpicks to build a little support brace. No one will notice, I promise!
Once all your pineapple is in the food processor, puree until smooth. I like mine to be nice and smooth, but you could leave little chunks of pineapple if that’s how you like it.
Once the pineapple is smooth, pour it into a freezer safe dish.
Cover it and freeze for an hour or two. Stick the bottom half of the pineapple into the freezer too so it’s nice and cold to hold your finished Pineapple Ice.
Don’t even bother washing up your food processor because you will need it one more time!
After the Pineapple Ice has frozen for an hour or so, scoop it out of the dish and back into your processor.
Blend just for 30 seconds or so and then transfer the mixture to the bottom half of the pineapple.
Stick this back into the freezer in a freezer safe dish for at least 2 hours or until ready to serve. This gives it time to be nice and frozen, but still easily scooped for serving. If you make this in advance, you will need to bring the Pineapple Ice out of the freezer to thaw a bit before it will be scoop-able. I think it’s best made the day of serving.
Enjoy!
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