Making Your Own Pineapple Paste

This post is to share my mum's advice when making your own pineapple paste to make pineapple tarts. 

Choosing pineapples 
Choose slightly green (not too ripe) - it's easier to grind (磨) as too ripe pineapple is too soft to grind. 

Cutting pineapples
When cutting the pineapple, cut into slightly bigger pieces so that it's easier to grind and remember to remove the eyes before starting to grind them.

Cooking pineapples
To have pineapple taste, it's important to cook the paste with the pineapple juice. Mum said those pineapple paste sold outside, the pineapple juice was drained off before cooking the paste so that the paste dries up faster, and hence, shorten the cooking time. Put sugar into the pineapple paste before cooking it. When the paste starts to dry up (juice getting lesser & lesser), add rock sugar (冰糖) so that the paste would look shiny.