Last week when I was at the farmer’s market the pineapple grower and I started chatting and he asked me if I had ever roasted a whole pineapple. I hadn’t but it gave me a great idea. Roast a pineapple and make sorbet out of it. It was delicious. It’s different than pineapple sorbet made from fresh or canned pineapple.
I love cooked pineapple, especially with ham but I’ve never roasted the whole pinapple. I’ve always grilled or fried it. I have to tell you, your entire house will smell of sweet roasted pineapple. It was fantastic!
I loved this. This sorbet has so much pineapple in it that it doesn’t freeze rock solid so it’s easy to eat. Roasting the pineapple first makes it really sweet. I added some sugar but I think next time I will taste the roasted pineapple before just plonking the sugar in.
No skills are needed to make this sorbet but it does take a bit of time and an ice cream maker. Start by preheating the oven to 200° C or 400° F. Cut the leaves off the top of the pineapple if your pineapple came with leaves and place it in a roasting pan. Roast til soft for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. My pineapple wasn’t huge so it only took 1 1/2 hours. Then let it cool.
Once the pineapple is cool, cut the outside layer off and cut out the little brown things and then cut the pineapple in quarters and remove the core and discard. Roughly cut the pineapple and place it in the food processor with a simple syrup made from 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water. I only used about 1/3 cup of syrup but you might need more or less. My sorbet was definitely sweet.
Then I added 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice and 1/4 cup of water. I added water until I thought it looked like sorbet. I suppose it will depend on how roasted your pineapple would be and how dry it ended up. Whiz in the processor for a few minutes to break down all the pineapple fiber and then place in the refrigerator to chill.
Once cold, place the sorbet mixture into your ice cream maker and freeze. You’ll love it!
When I make this again I’m going to try adding a bit more water or roasting the pineapple for a shorter length of time and make popsicles out of it. Yum !!
- 1 whole pineapple - green leaves on top removed
- Simple syrup (1 cup sugar - ½ cup water boiled til sugar dissolves)
- 1 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
- ¼ cup water
- Preheat oven to 200°C (400° F)
- Place pineapple in a roasting pan and place in the oven for 1½ to 2 hours til soft.
- Cut away all the outer skin and remove brown bits
- Cut into quarters and remove core and discard
- Cut pineapple into chunks and place in food processor.
- Whiz pineapple and then taste for sweetness
- Add simple syrup to taste
- Add lemon juice and water
- Process for 2-3 minutes til smooth
- Place in refrigerator til chilled
- Freeze in ice cream maker according to directions