Pineapple sparkling water, three ways
The unsweetened infusion, the syrup, and the ratio that makes the finished drink.
In season: Best March to July. A ripe one smells sweet at the base with the fruit held upside down. Available year round.
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Infused, unsweetened
Use
1.5 cups pineapple in 1 inch chunks per 1 litre, core included
Method
Chunks into cold still water and into the fridge immediately. Room temperature is where this one goes wrong.
Time
4 hours. It is high in sugar and loose in texture and it gives flavour up faster than most fruit.
Sparkling
Still water for the steep. Pineapple is sugary and pulpy and it flattens carbonation quickly. Strain, then top.
Keeps
24 hours refrigerated and that is a hard limit. Pineapple carries wild yeast on its skin and a lot of sugar in its flesh, so a jug left on the counter for a day begins fermenting. That is how tepache gets made on purpose and how your infusion goes fizzy and faintly boozy by accident.
The syrup
Ratio
1 cup pineapple including core and a rinsed handful of skin : 1 cup sugar : 1 cup water
Method
Simmer 12 minutes until the fruit turns translucent, steep off the heat 20 minutes, strain without pressing.
Keeps
2 weeks refrigerated, 6 months frozen
Note
The core and the skin are full of flavour and most recipes bin both. Rinse the skin properly first since it is the part that sat in a crate.
The finished soda
1 part syrup to 4 parts sparkling water, over ice, lime
A pinch of salt per glass moves pineapple soda from sweet to good. Do it before you consider adding more syrup.
The shrub version
1 cup chopped pineapple mashed with 1 cup sugar and left 2 days in the fridge until it goes syrupy, then 1 cup cider vinegar stirred in and left 2 days more. Strain. Keeps 2 months.
What doesn't work: Blending fresh pineapple into something you plan to keep for a few days, then being surprised when it stings your mouth or curdles anything dairy nearby. Raw pineapple contains bromelain, an enzyme that breaks down protein including the lining of your mouth. Holding it above about 80C for a few minutes shuts the enzyme down, which is why cooked pineapple syrup is smooth and a raw infusion drunk on day two starts to bite.
Goes with: MintJalapenoHabaneroLime