I was in an adventurous mood and was exploring recipes for dinner. I came across a teriyaki meatball dish that I had eyeballed before, but I didn’t have all the ingredients before. I looked it over and realized with excitement, hey! I have a full pineapple in my fridge that I didn’t know what to do with, and this was a great way to use it up!
I read through the directions, and one step required me to use pineapple juice reserved from the can. Hmm, since I’m using a fresh pineapple, I can’t do that. But I can just blend up a portion of the pineapple and use that instead, right?
So I did. The smells emanating from the oven were promising. I eagerly served my children two meatballs each and sat down to eat and…
Good lord, what is this? This isn’t meat, it’s paste. I mean the taste is fine, but oh…oh! It’s sticking to the roof of my mouth. No honey, you don’t have to eat this, put it in the trash. Yes you can make popcorn. We got leftovers in the fridge right? Let’s do that instead.
And yes, somebody did give me a pineapple that I accepted cause it was free and I like pineapple.
TL:DR: the fresh pineapple changed the texture of the meal to something that was very unpleasant.
Comments
Mushballs
Probably the bromelian in the fresh pineapple
Fresh pineapple contains a digestive enzyme called bromelain. It literally tries to digest your lips and mouth when you eat it, and only the copious saliva triggered by the taste prevents it from injuring you. Some people cannot eat fresh pineapple at all.
The heat used in canning pineapple completely deactivates the enzyme, making fresh and canned pineapple 100% NON-interchangeable.
Yeah, I believe fresh pineapple contains several times the amount of bromelain than canned pineapples.
You essentially just nuked your ground beef (already mechanically tenderized) with more tenderizer.
I can see using a fresh pineapple to marinade and tenderize a pork shoulder or something, but not for ground meats.
So sorry that happened! lol.
I learned that lesson some years ago. Juice only, no pulp. really need to strain that stuff.
It actually sounded like a really good recipe, too. 🤣
Years ago a friend told me of a similar experience using a new recipe for chicken salad with canned pineapple. He assumed if canned was good, fresh would be better. It damned near dissolved the chicken.
Fresh pineapple eats you back
It digested the meat, lol.
I’m sorry this happened to you but thank you for posting because this is something I would have done.