Allspice Angel Food Cakes with Maui Gold® Pineapple Curd and Oven-Dried Maui Gold® Pineapple

Makes: 6 individual cakes or one 10-inch cake

Ingredients:

For the cakes:

• 1⁄2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 7 large egg whites
• 3⁄4 cup sugar
• 3⁄4 teaspoon cream or tartar

For the pineapple slices:

• 1⁄2 fresh Maui Gold® pineapple (about 2 1⁄4 pounds), peeled, thinly sliced into rounds and cored

For the curd:

• 7 large egg yolks
• 3⁄4 cup sugar
• 1⁄4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1⁄2 cup fresh pineapple juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1⁄2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the cakes: whisk together flour and allspice in a bowl; set aside. Put egg whites and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; beat on medium speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Add cream of tartar. Beat on high speed until mixture is stiff and glossy and has tripled in volume, about 3 minutes. Transfer to large bowl. Carefully fold in flour mixture in 3 additions.

Spoon batter into plastic bag; snip off a corner of the bag. Squeeze batter into 6 mini angel-food-cake pans (about 4 inches in diameter and 2 1⁄4 inches high), dividing evenly. (Alternatively, spread batter into a 10-inch angel-food-cake pan). Bake until golden and cakes spring back when touched, about 30 minutes (for 10-inch cake, bake about 40 minutes). Let cool 30 minutes on a wire rack. Gently loosen cakes with a thin knife or the tip of a wooden skewer; un-mold. Let cool completely. Cakes can be stored in an air-tight container up to 1 day.

Reduce oven to 200 degrees. Make the pineapple slices: Spread Maui Gold® pineapple rounds on a rimmed baking sheet lined with a nonstick baking mat. Cook, flipping once, until dried, about 2 hours. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely. Dried pineapple slice can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 3 days.

Make the curd: Whisk egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a large heatproof bowl until smooth. Gradually whisk in pineapple and lemon juices. Set bowl over a pan of simmering water; whisk until thick, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat; whisk in butter until smooth. Cover in plastic, pressing wrap directly on surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate curd 1 hour (up to overnight).

To serve, invert cakes onto plates. Drizzle curd over each cake, and top with a dried pineapple slice. Serve remaining curd on the side.

Makes 6 individual cakes or one 10-inch cake. For thin, even slices, use a mandolin to cut the Maui Gold® pineapple.

The contest is open to all ages, from kids to teens to adults, and you can enter your pineapple into 3 categories: Most Creative, Most Scary, or Most Comical. Here is what you need to do to enter:

1. Buy a fresh pineapple from any grocery store.
2. Decorate and/or carve the pineapple to fit any of the categories: Most Creative, Most Scary or Most Comical.
3. Download and fill out the entry form.
4. Attend the Halloween Cannery Kids’ Night at the Lahaina Cannery Mall on Oct 31, 2008, between 3-9 p.m.

Important details on entry forms:

Entry forms must be received by Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd. on or before the close of business on Thursday, October 30, 2008. You may either:

1. Mail entry form to: Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd., Attention: Corporate Communications, PO Box 187, Kahului, HI 96733-6687
2. Fax entry form to 808-871-0849
3. Scan entry form and email it to : mlpcommunications (at) mlpmaui.com.
4. Bring entry form with your decorated pineapple to Lahaina Cannery Mall on October 31st between 3-6 p.m.

Download Contest Entry Form Here

We hope you participate in this fun event which promises to be great for the whole family. Good luck decorating and carving your pineapples! We can’t wait to see them all. May the best pineapples win!

We congratulate people like Michael Krakovskiy of DeadProgrammer.com (see photo) for growing and keeping real pineapple plants in their homes. As explained on the Maui Pineapple web page on growing a pineapple, here’s how to grow a pineapple at home:

First You’ll Need:

• The crown (top) of the pineapple
• A pint canning jar or other glass container
• A 12-inch diameter pot
• Potting soil that drains well 

Then, the Planting Directions:

• Cut the crown from the pineapple just above where the stem comes out of the top of the body
• Remove any of the fruity part of the pineapple from the crown
• Pull off the outer leaves of the crown, leaving 6 to 8 big leaves near the center
• Set this shoot aside for 2-3 days to dry out
• Put the shoot in water (about 1/2-inch deep; water shouldn’t touch the leaves)
• Place it in a bright spot out of direct sunlight for a few weeks to encourage roots to develop
• After you see the roots beginning to grow, transplant the crown to a medium-size pot containing soil that drains well
• Place the pot in a bright location and water your plant daily
• Once the young plant is established, pour a cupful of well-balanced, diluted, water-soluble liquid fertilizer into the top of the plant once a month.

Your plant should develop a red bud after about 12 months. From this stage, the pineapple fruit will begin to develop and in another 3-6 months, it should be ready to harvest and enjoy.

Another great resource describing how to grow pineapples in your home is also found on this page at Hawaii.edu. So, if you’ve got the time and the slightest bit of desire, try growing the delicious and nutritious pineapple fruit in your own home. It’s easy!

Pineapple photo courtesy of Michael Krakovskiy / DeadProgrammer.com

For instance, it offers a list of books that provide information on pineapple processing. Additionally, it lists the major pineapple producers in the world and their headquarters contact info, separated by country or region. For Hawaii, it correctly has Maui Pineapple Company and Dole as pineapple producers, but it incorrectly includes Del Monte, which closed its Hawaii pineapple production in Nov 2006. Also, I learned that Sri Lanka has quite a few pineapple producers. Who knew? Very interesting stuff.

How to Cut a Pineapple

In this quick guide, you’ll learn how to cut up a pineapple the right way. It’s easy.

Before cutting: Make sure you choose the right pineapple.

1. Set the pineapple down on its side.

2. Twist or chop the leafy crown off.

3. Chop off the stem at the bottom of the fruit.

4. Stand the pineapple up on its base.

5. Slice the pineapple skin off around the edges from top to bottom. Leave as much of the pineapple flesh intact as possible by following the curved shape of the fruit.

6. Use a peeler or a paring knife to cut off any brown eye spots.

At this point you may choose to cut the pineapple into ring-shaped slices or triangular wedges.

To make pineapple rings:

7. Lay the pineapple on its side.

8. Cut downward through the pineapple to make several slices of desired thickness.

9. Set each pineapple slice down flat.

10. Using a paring knife, cut around the core. The core has a tougher texture and is lighter in color.

11. Pick up the slice and use your thumbs to push out the core.

12. Dig in. Dream of Maui.

To make wedge-shaped pineapple chunks:

7. Chop straight down through the center of the pineapple core twice, making an “X” in the top of the pineapple. This creates four roughly equal sections.

8. Place each section on its side with core side up. Slice across the section just under the core to remove it.

9. Cut the remaining pineapple flesh in half lengthwise.

10. Chop each piece into wedge-shaped chunks.

11. Enjoy.

Pineapples are tasty, aren’t they? And now you know how to cut ‘em like the pros.

photo credit above to SuperLuckyKitchen

The participants in this year’s Maui Gold Dessert Contest were:

• Pineapple Grill at Kapalua, Executive Chef Ryan Luckey, Kapalua Resort
• Gourmet Catering & Tropical Desserts by Vasi, Haiku
• Cravings Bakery, Kahului
• The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua led by Executive Chef John Zaner
• Merriman’s Kapalua led by Executive Chef George Gomes Jr.
• Maui Community College – Maui Culinary Academy, Bakery Department led by Pastry Chef Teresa Shurilla

The desserts are judged on “overall taste, texture, visual presentation and incorporation and innovation of the recipe with Maui Gold pineapple.”

Stay tuned here to find out the winner of this year’s contest!

(Previous contest winner):

On the new website, you can find out more about Maui Pineapple Company’s history, Kapalua Farms, the Maui Gold Pineapple Tour, helpful tips & facts about pineapples and pineapple selection & preparation, as well as loads of free wonderful pineapple recipes. One of my favorite things about the new website, beside the new colors, is the great videos page where you can view a large variety of videos about pineapple and Maui Pineapple Company. I find the “From Planting to Packaging” video to be the most fascinating, and I highly recommend it.

Of course, the new website continues to offer the very handy online store where you can buy everything from fresh Maui Gold Pineapple express-shipped to your home to Maui Pineapple Company apparel and accessories.

If you haven’t visited Maui Pineapple’s new website, go check it out and let us know what you think!

Here is the full content of the press release:

Maui Pineapple Company’s Maui Gold Pineapple Tour is the only working pineapple plantation tour in the USA (and it starts from Kapalua Resort on Maui).

Kahului, Maui, Hawaii (PRWEB) June 16, 2008 – Experience the only working pineapple plantation tour of its kind in the entire nation at Kapalua Resort, Maui Hawaii. Visitors to Maui can take a guided tour to the fields and learn all about pineapple planting, harvesting and tasting in addition to plantation and island history. Picked by expert guides, the freshest pineapple you have ever had in your life can be sampled in the middle of scenic West Maui pineapple fields. (more…)

The Maui Pineapple Company MySpace page already has great photos of the Maui Gold pineapple, and will soon have videos as well. Check in regularly and help spread the word to your friends – there’s plenty of room at the Maui Pineapple MySpace page for everyone!

A quick read of these blogs shows that most people don’t just enjoy a fresh Hawaiian pineapple from Maui, but that they love fresh fresh Maui Gold Pineapple.

Here are a few of the comments:

From Local Kine Hawaii

Do you crave the taste of fresh sweet delicious pineapples? Now, you can get fresh Maui Pineapples shipped directly to your door.

From Dixie Dining

“there is just something extra special about buying and enjoying a fresh Hawaii pineapple”

From Diablo Canyon

“I’m salivating thinking about that ‘pineapple’ already”