Pineapple chunks vs crushed in new recipe?

July 11, 2023 8:10 AM

I'm trying out a new recipe for carrot cake, and it calls for a can of crushed pineapple. We have only found pineapple chunks, and my question is would you chop the chunks and add to the mix with all the liquid from the can, or just use the pineapple that's been fished out of the liquid and chopped? Here's the recipe in question.
posted by taz to Food & Drink (4 answers total)

Best answer: I would NOT include the liquid from the can.
posted by saladin at 8:11 AM on July 11, 2023 [7 favorites]

Best answer: I'd take "drained" to mean that you should not use the liquid—you're essentially creating drained crushed pineapple in a different order, by doing the draining first (removing the pineapple from the liquid) and then the crushing.
posted by babelfish at 8:12 AM on July 11, 2023 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Wow, I totally missed "drained"! 🤪 Thank you, Ask Metafilter for actually reading the recipe for me. I love you. ❤️
posted by taz at 8:16 AM on July 11, 2023 [11 favorites]

Best answer: I think that drained chunks will have a bit less liquid that drained crushed. Like if you put the whole can in the food processor, then drained it, I think that mix would be wetter than if you drained it then put it in the chopper. So I'd do something in the middle, perhaps adding a bit of the retained liquid after you see how the batter is coming together.

Also note the can size, make sure it's the same. I once regretted subbing in canned crushed tomatoes for diced, not because of texture, but because the crushed can was much bigger.
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:16 AM on July 11, 2023 [3 favorites]