Making Of Pineapple Paste

If you've made pineapple paste from scratch before, you'll know how tedious it is. Traditionally, the pineapple is grated but these days, we just throw it into a blender to blend away. This part alone saves you lots of time. The puree is then transferred to a pot or pan & cooked over low heat for the next 2 hours till it reduces into a paste that's 25% of the original amount.

For the 1st hour, you've got to stir fairly quickly constantly. It's very liquid at this stage & when it bubbles, it splatters. Boiling hot pineapple puree on your hand hurts. You can't cover it & let it boil away as the bottom part will get burnt. So you have no choice but to stir away. This is how it looks like at the beginning.

1 hour has passed. Your feet & legs are aching from standing for an hour. The puree has thickened & you no longer have to stir as quickly as they no longer splatter. But you're only halfway done. By the 1.5 hour mark, it becomes increasingly difficult to stir. You're folding the paste into itself more than you're stirring until it finally feels like you're just flipping it around like a prata.

The end product. It's still fairly moist but it's going into the fridge uncovered & will dry itself out in the low humidity of the fridge. 

Some recipes call for you to divide the paste into X number of portions. I usually weigh the paste & measure out the portions. This way, all your pineapple balls will be guaranteed equal in size. These are 8g balls.