Sweet Citrus Punch

It’s always a treat to provide overnight or brunch guests with a nice morning beverage, besides coffee.  I find that whenever we serve eggs, I crave an orange-juice based beverage; does anyone else experience that? 

For a brunch a few weeks ago, we made this sweet citrus punch, which was a recipe that caught my attention from Liz and her husband over at Pocket Change Gourmet.

This punch combines orange and pineapple juice along with sparkling lemon water for a delightful breakfast beverage. 

Sweet Citrus Punch – Adapted from Pocket Change Gourmet

Ingredients

• 1 can frozen orange pineapple juice concentrate, thawed
• 1 can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 3 C cold water
• 1 bottle, sparkling lemon flavored water

Directions

In a juice container, mix together the orange juice concentrate along with the orange pineapple concentrate. 

Add 3 cups of cold water.  Stir until the concentrates are dissolved. 

Chill the beverage until ready to serve. 

To serve, fill half the glass with the orange pineapple mix, then, top with the lemon sparkling water.  Give a quick stir and serve, either on ice, or without. 

We served this morning beverage in wine glasses for an extra special treat. 

Enjoy!

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Kitchen Tip: Slicing Pineapple

The pineapple is part of the Bromeliad family – and the pineapple is pretty much the only edible member of this botanical family. 

Pineapples are a “mutliple fruit”, which means that many flowers were fertilized and together they form one giant fruit.  This means, that each section of the pineapple produced flowers – sometimes these beautiful purple flowers can reach a count over 200 on one pineapple! 

I had the priviledge of seeing pineapples up close on their parent plant when I traveled to Ecuador.  There was nothing like it. 

Do you enjoy a good pineapple?  We certainly do… but cutting it can be quite the task!  Here’s what I’ve learned about how to slice one:

Start by grabbing the vegetative part of the pineapple that is growing off of the top.  Twist the stem and …

it should pop right off!

Now, slice the top off and start skinning the thing – slicing the outer layer off. 

Now, you have a clean pineapple.

Next up, slice the pineapple down the middle.

Then, slice a few more times until you have sections that are about bite-size in width. 

Slice the center out of each segment, just like this:

Then, slice the strip horizontally into bite sized pieces. 

If you don’t plan on eating all the pineapple within a day or two of slicing, only prepare half of the pineapple.  Leave the other half with the exocarp still on (the outer skin), and wrap it in plastic wrap, storing it in the fridge until you are ready to eat it.  You’ll buy another 3-4 days on the life of your pineapple that way.

How do you cut your pineapple?

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