Pineapple is one of the most exotic fruits that is appreciated all across the world. It is basically the fruit of a tropical plant and is primarily indigenous to South America and has been cultivated there for several centuries now.
There are tons of nutritional benefits to it as well that allow you to enjoy the right balance in your diet. It is rich in vitamin C, which encourages growth and healing around the body.
From wound repair to iron absorption, there are many reasons why pineapple should be included in your diet plan. Its low-calorie count makes it an ideal choice for people looking to lose weight while gaining all the essential nutrients.
Not only is it eaten raw as a fruit, but pineapple juice is also consumed widely all over the world. Pineapple is also used in different cuisines, especially in the South American region, to add the right tingle to the dishes.
Not to mention, it goes perfectly with a lot of desserts and salads as well. In addition, it balances the spices as well and lets you enjoy the perfect taste and texture of the dishes. However, sometimes, you may not find it in your nearby fruit shops.
If that’s the case, you may want to look for substitutes for pineapple that you can use instead. Fortunately, there are many alternatives to pineapple that you can use for cooking, and a few of them for both sour and sweet dishes are mentioned below.
Alternatives to Pineapple in Sweet and Sour
If pineapple is not available in your nearby fruit shops, consider using these below-mentioned alternatives.
Sweet
A few different substitutes that you can use for the pineapple in the sweeter recipes are:
- Grapefruit
Grapefruit has a similar taste to pineapples as it is balanced sweet and sour at the same time. It is a fruit from the citrus category.
While the texture might be slightly different with more juice on it, it would be just the right thing that you can use for many different recipes, especially if they require you to add pineapple juice to it for marination or any such purpose.
Grapefruit can also be served as garnishing or a snack instead of pineapple, and you can use it in different sorts of sweet recipes as well that require you to add the tingle and taste to make them balanced and sweet. As a cherry on the cake, grapefruit offers lots of health benefits as well.
As a matter of fact, it is also known as the “fruit from paradise” because of its tremendous benefits. For starters, vitamin C is found in abundance in grapefruits. It helps your metabolic system work properly while offering a few other benefits.
They are also beneficial for people trying to lose weight as they are full of fibers, water, and vitamin C. Secondly, it stabilizes the sugar level in the blood.
The American Diabetes Association has repeatedly advised people with diabetes (or people with diabetes in their family) to eat grapefruit as it is a low-glycemic food and does not cause the sugar level to rise. Apart from that, grapefruit also protects your body from cancer.
It helps lower the risk of cancers of different organs, including the stomach, bladder, breast, and a few more. It also keeps you hydrated. It is 92% water, which is more than pretty much every other fruit. Moreover, it has also shown great results for cholesterol sufferers.
Eating a grapefruit a day keeps the bad cholesterol under control. However, don’t eat it if you take a cholesterol-lowering drug as it may interact with them.
While many might differ, apple juice might not be the best substitute as the texture is obviously different. However, as things stand, apples would serve you best, and you will get the balanced sweetness and sourness that you are looking for.
Even if you want to get the juice, Apple juice can substitute the pineapple juice pretty well if you filter it well and add it to any recipes that require the pineapple juice.
Sour
There are also a lot of different recipes that might need you to have the pineapple for sourness. You might be looking to prepare some meat or some other similar recipes. So, here are a few alternatives that would serve you best.
- Vinegar
Vinegar is as sour as pineapple, but it is not that sweet. To balance that up, you will need to add a bit of sugar to the vinegar.
After that, you can simply add the vinegar to the recipe that needs pineapple juice or pineapples, especially those chicken or some other meat recipes that require marination, and you can have the perfect texture and taste in those dishes.
To make vinegar at home, get fresh apples first and cut them into small pieces. You can also use apple scraps for this purpose. Now, put them into a jar and fill in enough water to cover the apples. After that, add several teaspoons of sugar and mix them all.
Some people suggest shaking it as it is relatively easier. If you want to shake it instead, make sure to tighten the lid properly. If you have some vinegar at home, consider adding it to the jar. This will expedite the process by quickly starting the fermentation and avoiding mold fermentation.
Cover it with a lid and store it in a cool and dry place for a few days. And yes, don’t forget to open and stir it every day. After a couple of days, bubbles will start forming, and it will begin to taste mildly alcoholic, and you’d no longer need to stir it.
Now take a strainer and pass the vinegar through it. To get every drop possible, take the apples on the strainer, put them on a mesh cloth, and squeeze them. That’s it! Your homemade vinegar is ready! Bottle it up and use it in your recipes, or store it right away!
The best thing about vinegar is its indefinite shelf life. And since it is highly acidic, it doesn’t even need refrigeration. This means that you can store it for months, and it will hold the same taste.
- Orange and Lime Juice
While it might look and sound a bit odd to you, orange and lime juice will serve you just right if you are looking to enjoy the best possible taste that would substitute the pineapple in any of the recipes that you might be preparing.
It’s no secret that pineapple, orange, and lime all belong to the same citrus family of fruits, which is why orange and lime juice is an excellent alternative to pineapple.
While using the orange and lime juice as an alternative to pineapple, make sure that you are mixing the right amount of orange and lime for it to have balanced sweetness and sourness.
That will help you out perfectly with marination, mixing, or any other application that you might have in mind or some recipe that you might be following. Although the taste may differ a bit, it still would be the best thing that you can use as a substitute for pineapple.
First things first, remove the skin from both lime and orange and cut them into small pieces. Now, get a blender and transfer the fruits into it. Add a few teaspoons of sugar and fill the blender with water. Some people suggest adding ginger too, which is a good option if you like its taste.
And yes, make sure to add a generous amount of sugar, or else your juice will taste bitter. Blend it for a couple of minutes and consider tasting it to find out if you need to add more sugar. Once orange and lime are blended, your juice is ready! Pour it into a glass and relish it!