Hello Pineapple Lime Preserves

Woale, Nenie atɔtɔ a?  Deka, biye dze eve. Etɔ, biye dze atɔ.

(Good afternoon, how much does the pineapple cost? One, 200CFA. Three, 500 CFA)

Well then… I must buy three and save that 100CFA (approx. 25 cents)!

While perusing the market yesterday I had a bit of a hankering for some fruit.  My usual fruit lady had pineapple and some bizarre looking African fruit I did not recognize at all so, rather than chancing my fruit purchase of the week on the mystery fruit, I turned my eye to the piles of pineapple.

Really all I needed or wanted was one pineapple, but they were so neatly stacked in piles of three and the price such a bargain… how could I not get three?  Well, I could have not gotten three and not had a big pile of pineapple sitting in my house that I needed to eat before the end of a few days or I would not only have a large pile of pineapple, but also a large pile of rotting pineapple sitting in my kitchen.  I needed to figure out how to use up this fruit I so frugally purchased. 

Tiger enjoying a pineapple lime preserve sandwich.

Of course I could eat it strait, but a bad experience in the past when I sat down by my lonesome with a whole pineapple and ended up with a tongue sore from the acid burning my tongue, makes me shy away from eating three pineapples straight.  There is always the oldie but goody, pineapple upside-down cake, but trying to limit some of my sugar intake that was out.  So I found a recipe for Pineapple Lime Preserves and they are delicious.

This was my first preserving experience and really I have not of the proper equipment to do it properly.  But after jerry-rigging a contraption made from an old margarine tub and the pot lid to keep my jar submerged beneath the boiling water, it was a go.  Amazingly, I did not burn myself once even though I was pouring a boiling liquid into a boiling hot jar with the limited equipment I could fin consisting of more margarine tubs and a dishtowel.

I now have a tasty treat for my toast, no burns, fewer pineapples, and, with a little luck, no botulism!