PINE-APPLE BEER

1 pineapple
Water
Sugar

Wash and then pare a pine-apple; if a good size, put the rind into about two quarts of water (in the quantity you must be guided by the size of the pine-apple); cover it for twenty-four hours; then sweeten to your taste, bottle, cork, and put it into the sun for five or six hours, cool it and it is then fit for use.

From The Carolina Housewife by Sarah Rutledge, 1847

Comment: This is a very frugal recipe, making use of a part of a (presumably imported, and therefore expensive) fruit which would otherwise be thrown away.

We are not sure this would be considered a "beer" by the modern definition of the term. It calls for no yeast to be added, only one day of "fermenting" time in the keg and only six hours of sun-warming time in the bottle before use. While it might muster up a bit of fermentation from wild yeast on the outside of the rind, this is probably better described as "pineappleade" or would be if there were such a word.

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