Canning Fresh Pineapple

Pineapples were on sale last week at the grocery store down the road for $1 each! Needless to say, I bought a LOT of them! We ate some, grilled some, sorbet-ed some… I experimented with some new recipes and made some of my tried-and-true favorites. Just before grad weekend, I bought a few more while they were still on sale… Bad idea! By today it was clear that something had to be done with them NOW! A friend of mine on Facebook posted pics of her many jars of sunshiney yellow canned pineapple and I knew just what to do.

Caning pineapple is super easy! Canning pineapple is even easier if your friend loans you his super cool pineapple cutting tool thing-y!

When you’re done, you have rings or you can cut them into chunks. You are also left with a hollow pineapple “cup” for a fancy fun tropical drink, once you remove the core.

My friend also told me you can dry your pineapple cores and use them like you would wood chips in the grill. Maybe with chicken??? I’ve got mine in the oven drying now…

All I did was chunk my pineapple up, throw it in a pot, cover it with water, add 1/4 cup sugar, stir and simmer for 10 minutes. I read on-line that it is acidic enough that you don’t even need sugar, but I threw a bit in for good measure.

Then fill your hot jars with fruit and hot liquid to a 1/2” headspace and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes for pints and 20 minutes for quarts. Turn off once they are done, remove cover and let sit for 5 minutes before removing from canner.

Let rest for 12-24 hours before testing to see if your jars sealed.

These will be a lovely addition to my canning shelf!