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Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Z-Pineapple - Make Your Own Canned Pineapple For a Fraction of The Cost


First of all I need to give a nod to Cheryl from the Food Storage group at Yahoo Groups for the tip on making your own canned zucchini-pineapple (I know, it sounds weird but stay with me here--it's delicious, nutritious, and very thrifty).  I've been blessed this year with an overabundance of zucchini and so I've recently been posting ideas for using this prolific, nutritious, and delicious vegetable.  Cheryl responded to one of my posts with a couple of ideas for using zucchini.  One of those was a link to the National Center for Home Food Preservation from the University of Georgia (the whole site is a great resource) with instructions to make Zucchini-Pineapple.

I modified those instructions a bit to save even more money and made some amazingly delicious canned Z-Pineapple (my new name for it because it's fun to say with a bad Italian accent--"Issa guda!  You gonna luva z-pineapple").  One of the things I really liked about this recipe is that it uses up A LOT of zucchini (4 quarts), and its actually better with the giant overgrown ones that you were going to put back in the compost pit anyway.

Here's how to make your own batch of Z-Pineapple


  • 4 quarts Cubed or Shredded Zucchini (depending on whether you want "tidbits" or "crushed")
  • 12 oz Can of Frozen Concentrated Pineapple Juice
  • 2 Tbsp Citric Acid (alternatively can use 1½ cups lemon juice - if so use in place of the water to reconstitute the Pineapple Juice)
  • 3 cups sugar (or substitute with your favorite sweetener such as Agave Nectar)

Peel the zucchini and either cut into ½-inch cubes or shred. Mix the zucchini with the other ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes. Fill several small canning jars (this recipe will make around 8 pints) with the hot mixture and cooking liquid, leaving ½-inch headspace. Put on lids, tighten rings, and process (cover with water in a large pot and boil) for 20 minutes.  Carefully remove the jars from the boiling water and re-tighten the rings.  Let the jars cool on the counter until they reach room temperature.  Make sure that all the lids have sealed (refrigerate any that don't seal and use right away).  Store in a cool dark place (e.g. a pantry or cupboard) until you're ready to use them.  

Use Z-Pineapple in salads, on pizzas, in cakes, or anywhere you would use pineapple (or, like me, you could eat it right out of the jar).  These are really good and are a pretty good imitation of real pineapple--the main difference is that real pineapple has stringy fibers that Z-Pineapple doesn't.  The consistency of the Z-Pineapple has a nice bite and is a bit crunchy (it reminds me of canned pears). 

2 comments:

  1. gonna try this! BTW Joe, where do you get sourdough starter? Is it something you buy, or can you generate it at home?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Renae. The easiest way is to get some from someone who already has a culture going (contact me and we can work something out). However, you can easily make start your own. For instance, you can use some kefir to start sourdough--the following post: http://www.popapajoe.com/2013/03/kefir-cream-cheese-whey-sourdough.html

      You can also start simply by mixing a cup of water and a cup of flour, setting that on an outdoor windowsill where it will catch wild yeast (which is floating around in the air everywhere) and then following the basic instructions in the post above.

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