This is my recipe for a Latin style pineapple marmalade or preserves, also known as dulce de piña. You can make this pineapple dulce in different ways: in caramelized chunky preserves style, a smooth (but with some texture) jam style, or a mix of both. It’s infused with cinnamon, and based on your personal preference you can add additional spices like cloves, cardamom, all spice, etc. I also like to infuse it with some aromatic herbs, like lemon verbena or lemongrass.
You can use regular sugar for these caramelized pineapple preserves, but if you want a richer flavor you can use panela or piloncillo cane sugar – or dark brown sugar. This pineapple marmalade is a perfect filling for sweet empanadas. It also works great with bread, crepes, ice cream, and also with cheese. A very common dessert in Ecuador is cheese with caramelized fruit preserves. The cheese used is a very fresh cheese called quesillo.
Latin style pineapple marmalade or preserves, aka dulce de piña. This chunky pineapple jam is perfect as a filling for empanadas, on toast, crepes, etc.
Ingredients
- 1 whole pineapple
- ½ cup of water
- ½ cup sugar, can use regular sugar or brown sugar or panela/piloncillo
- 1 cinnamon stick, add more if you prefer
- 2-3 whole cloves
- Additional optional spices: all spice, cardamom pods, etc
- Optional aromatic herbs: 1 fresh lemon verbena sprig or dry verbena, other options include lemongrass, lemon balm, etc
- Juice of 1 lime
Instructions
- Peel and core the pineapple, discard the core and peel (or use to make this spiced pineapple chicha drink).
- For a medium chunky ratio, cut half of the pineapple in small squares and blend the remaining half to obtain a coarse puree. For smoother style marmalade, coarsely blend all of the pineapple. For very chunky caramelized pineapple preserves, dice all of all the pineapple.
- In a medium sized saucepan, over high heat, boil the water, sugar or panela (piloncillo), cinnamon stick, cloves, and other spices/aromatic herbs.
- Add the chopped pineapple, the crushed/coarse pineapple pure, and the lime juice.
- Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Continue cooking until the liquid reduces and the marmalade/preserve thickens, about an hour. Stir occasionally to avoid burning.
Step by step photos for making pineapple marmalade or caramelized preserves {Dulce de piña}
Verena says
March 23, 2009 at 7:48 amWhile I was reading your fabulous site, I remembered I had some pineapple in my refrigerator, which no one wanted to eat anymore. I made some chicha de piña and with the rest of the pineapple made some marmalade… delicious! Got me back to when I was a kid living in beautiful Ecuador. Sometimes we know things, but just forget in the midst of our daily lives, and even though I love to cook, and cook a lot of ecuadorian food, some dishes where gone with my mom and grandma. Thank you so much for giving us all these wonderful receipes and reminding us (ecuadorians) from where we come ;)
Laylita says
April 29, 2008 at 3:24 pmHi Paulj, that’s a great idea, I’ve never had quaker that way, mainly we would make quaker with naranjillas, but as a kid we would take the pineapple peels and the core and boil them with water and some sugar to make a “fresco” or drink, it was so easy to make.
paulj says
April 25, 2008 at 1:22 pmHow about using the pineapple core and peel in ‘quaker’ – the oatmeal drink?