Pineapple Chicha

I like to use 'stuff' that normally gets thrown away.   I especially like to use 'stuff' that ends up tasting yummy.  And to take it a step further, using scraps and wild food  to make any sort of alcohol, is sort of a win-win in the kitchen.  But one of the best things about this recipe is that it's also delicious in it's non-alcoholic form.

If you decide to ferment this recipe, you'll need to make the apple cider starter for hard apple cider that I wrote about in my in my last blog.  The starter is so versatile, I keep it on hand all the time.  I keep it in the fridge and when I need it, just set it out at room temperature for a day to let the yeasts 'wake up' and start working again.

If you decide to leave it non-alcoholic, then omit the fermentation and just drink it hot or chilled.

We eat pineapple a couple of times of year, mostly during the holidays.  It's sort of an expensive treat but the family loves ambrosia and I hate to say 'no'.  But I'm left with a lot of peelings and the core, which always seemed such a waste.

And then I discovered 'Chicha'.  I'll admit it, the first thing that comes to mind when someone says 'Chicha' is an old Andean Grandmother, chewing up corn and spitting it back in to the brew pot.  Not a terribly appetizing idea for a beer for many reasons, not the least of which is the idea of that whole 'communicable disease' thing.

But the more I researched Chicha the more I found out it doesn't always involve spit.  It also doesn't always involve blue corn.  Chicha can be made with rice, pineapple, cassava, amaranth, peanuts, barley, cannabis, pineapple and more.  And it doesn't actually have to ferment.  Unfermented pineapple Chicha is a treat often served to children.  And if you try it, you'll see why.  It's delicious.  Personally, I think the unfermented version would make a great fireside drink with a dash of rum...

You'll need the peelings and core from a pineapple.
5 quarts of water
1 pound of panela (or brown sugar)
2 handfuls of fermented blackberry tea leaves (see previous blog)
Spices (whatever suits your fancy.  I used ginger, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, but wild spices would be great too)

Throw everything into a pot and simmer for about an hour.
Turn off heat and let sit overnight.  Strain.

Now you have several options.  You can chill it (it's delicious as is or with a bit of rum), you can heat it up and serve it as a hot drink (again, delicious with a splash of rum), or you can ferment it for a few days and make a very nice spicy beer with an alcohol content of about 3 percent.

To make the beer, just pour the strained liquid into your carboy, add about a cup of the hard apple cider starter (recipe in the previous blog), top it with an airlock and let it sit for a few days.  You can taste it every day to see where on the scale you like it...sweeter or dryer.  The dryer the brew the higher the alcohol content.  If you're doing a lot of brewing, you might want to spend the 15 bucks and get in inexpensive hydrometer.  When it reaches the flavor that you like, bottle it.

And that's all there is too it.  A delicious drink and no waste.