Fresh Pineapple For Baking? Go The Canned Route Instead (Here's Why)

Whether you're making a pineapple upside-down cake or Johnny Cash's beloved tropical pie recipe, pineapples are vital to many of the very best fruity desserts and pastries that we love to bake in the kitchen. However, as is often the case when dealing with fruits while baking, the decision between using canned or fresh pineapples can be a difficult one, especially for those new to cooking with the ingredient. Luckily, we spoke to Beth Baumgartner — a cookbook author and the founder of the popular baking blog The First Year — who explained exactly why fresh pineapple actually isn't the ideal choice in most cases.

"Bakers often choose canned pineapple over fresh because fresh pineapple contains enzymes that can break down structure in baked goods," Baumgartner explained, "while canned pineapple has been heat-processed to deactivate those enzymes, making it more reliable, plus it's sweeter ... canned pineapple is generally the better choice for baked goods like cakes and desserts where consistency matters."

Despite canned pineapples' superiority over fresh ones for baking, it's important to remember that the sweeter, more consistent version of the fruit still needs some prepping before you add it to your cake or pie. It's essential to drain the canned pineapple well and pat the fruit pieces dry to get rid of extra moisture. " ... You may need to do several rounds of patting to fully remove the moisture and prevent soggy crusts or overly wet batter," Baumgartner added. 

So, in the majority of cases, you're likely to get much more consistent results by baking with canned pineapples. However, that doesn't mean there's no use for the fresh kind you grabbed from the store, ideally during pineapple's peak season of March to July. Instead, Beth Baumgartner recommends using the many strengths of the non-canned version to your advantage. "Fresh pineapple tends to have a brighter flavor and firmer texture," the cookbook author explained. "[It's] better suited for toppings, fruit salads, or grilled applications." Plus, because canned pineapples are inherently more moist than fresh pineapples and can be hard to dry effectively without extraneous effort, some recipes and dishes that are incredibly sensitive to additional moisture are considered great candidates for the fresh version of the fruit.

With this in mind, choosing fresh pineapple for dishes like pizza (even if Gordon Ramsay can't stand the combination) is key to making the pizza shine as brightly as possible without adding excess moisture to the pie. Furthermore, another major factor to remember is that fresh pineapple caramelizes much better than canned pineapple. This means that either grilling or pan-searing the fruit before adding it to foods like ice cream or even burgers can enhance their sweetness and texture tenfold, and is likely your best bet for getting the most out of the fruit in the kitchen.