Some tart, juicy, and delicious pineapple is already a pretty appetizing concept. But then you add chocolate to the mix, and your chances to content your tastebuds drastically increase. Tropical, sometimes tongue-burning pineapple is one of the fruits that pair exceptionally well with chocolate, ranking right up there with classics such as strawberries and bananas. And while you can’t go wrong with this combo, you can actually make it even better by simply flicking on your grill.
Grilling your pineapple beforehand can be the key to unlocking even more flavor out of your already-satisfying chocolatey dessert. Pineapple, like many fruits, contains a good deal of sugar, and grilling it will caramelize some of this. This results in pieces of pineapple that are still incredibly juicy, but now have a delectable caramelized crust. The sweeter and more complex profile will pair incredibly with your chocolate. And you could even add some brown sugar and cinnamon to the pineapple prior to grilling for even more flavor. It only takes a few minutes to grill pineapple, so there’s no reason not to give it a try.
Grilled pineapple is good in all situations
Using grilled pineapple for the purposes of covering it in chocolate is a fascinating and lesser-known idea, but the thought of having grilled pineapple in general is nothing new at all. In fact, there are many fruits that are unexpected or underrated candidates for the grill. You’ll likely encounter grilled pineapple as a side at Brazilian steakhouses, where the acidic tone of the pineapple and the wonderful sweetness of the caramelized sugar is a refreshing palate reset on a meat-centric menu. You might also see it on anything done “al pastor” –- a Mexican style of spit-cooking pork. Tacos al pastor are commonly served with some grilled pineapple and a zesty spritz of lime, for example.
In this way, you can think of grilled pineapple as bringing a degree of pedigree with it when it comes time to testing it with chocolate. The chocolate’s relative bitterness will be balanced by the grilled pineapple, giving you a medley of flavors that bounce off of each other to provide a surprisingly complex and imminently craveable combo. Just make sure to pick out a good pineapple from the store and you’re all set to go.
