Just a quick recipe to show you how we like to eat our pineapple here for dessert. Well, recipe is a big word.

Most of my recipes have a common denominator: savoriness. With one exception, and that is fruit. Huge chunks of fresh and sweet fruit that have a cheerful explode-in-your-mouth juiciness to them make me really happy.

Pineapple -or ananas as we call it- is one of those fruits. Pineapple lends itself perfectly to savory dishes, that aside, but we like to eat it sprinkled with a mint sugar that’s infused with the warmth of cinnamon and the zing of chilies.

When you add flavors like that to your fruit, you create a whole new and interesting dimension to it. A genuine flavor-bomb that will be the perfect ending to any summer dinner, be it BBQ, buffet, pizza, or a simple sandwich.

Ingredients:

1 ripe pineapple
3 to 4 tbsp sugar (or castor sugar)
1/2 cinnamon stick or 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp dried chili flakes
handful fresh mint leaves

Directions:

I prefer to use a cinnamon stick for this that I grind with my mortar & pestle. It makes me feel like a witch.

Add the dried chili flakes. The chili really makes the flavor of the pineapple pop.

Add 1 tsp sugar and start grinding.

Until you have a fine powder.

Fresh mint goes perfect with pineapple.

I’ve added a good handful of mint leaves and 2 more tbsp sugar. Now, mash the heck out of it.

And keep mashing. It’s therapeutic.

Finally you end up with a wicked green sugar that smells heavenly.

Remove the pineapple skin.

Remove the core and cut it in thin slices.

 
The blue nail polish looks horrible, at least I think it does, but my son adores it. The things we do for love, right? I’m a sucker.
 

Sprinkle the mint sugar over the pineapple and garnish with mint leaves. This is so tasty.