Smoked Pineapple
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1 hr · Easy · Serves 6
The collision your grill has been waiting for: the islands' sweetest fruit and the islands' sweetest smoke. Dessert, salsa, burger topping — it refuses to stay in one lane.
Buy the fruit right and the recipe mostly cooks itself. A ripe pineapple gives slightly at the base, smells sweet at the bottom rather than sharp, and pulls a center leaf with mild resistance. Underripe fruit will not sweeten over the fire — smoke concentrates whatever is already there, including sourness.
Cut the spears thick, a full inch or better. Thin slices dry out and go leathery in an hour of smoke, where thick ones hold their juice and pick up a bronzed edge. And leave the core in if you are dicing it later for salsa — it firms up in the smoke and stops the dice from collapsing into mush.
This is also the cheapest way to find out what kiawe actually tastes like. One fruit, one handful of chips, one hour. If you are not ready to commit a brisket to a new wood, commit a pineapple.
The Numbers
- Pit: 250F
- Time: about 1 hr, turned once
- Finish: 60 seconds direct for char, optional
- Burn: a handful of kiawe chips is plenty
Ingredients
- 1 ripe pineapple, peeled, cored, quartered lengthwise
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- Pinch of sea salt
- Optional: li hing mui powder, vanilla ice cream
Method
- Dust the spears with brown sugar and salt.
- Smoke at 250°F over kiawe chips or chunks about an hour, turning once, until bronzed.
- Optional: 60 seconds over direct flame for char marks.
- Serve warm — over ice cream, chopped into salsa, or on a burger.
On Your Rig
Same recipe, different fire. An hour at 250°F is the least demanding cook on this site, which is why it works on anything.
- Pellet Grill — Kiawe Pellets. Full pellet grill setup
- Charcoal Grill (Kettle) — Kiawe Lump Charcoal + 2-3 Kiawe Chunks on the coals. Full charcoal grill setup
- Kamado / Ceramic — Kiawe Lump Charcoal + Kiawe Chunks buried in the lump. Full kamado setup
- Offset Smoker — Kiawe Chunks over a lump bed. Full offset smoker setup
- Gas Grill — Kiawe Chips in a smoke tube, or a Kiawe Chunk wrapped in foil (poke holes) on the burner. Full gas grill setup
On the Side
- Vanilla Ice Cream — the dessert route
- The Founder's Smash Burger — the savory route
- The Founder's Pineapple Pico — the salsa route
Build this cook on the Kiawe Cook Matrix — pick your protein, cut, and rig for exact temps and fuel loads.