Maui Gold Pineapple Fritters, "Sugar Daddy" Caramel Sauce
Michelle Karr, our pastry chef, is working on some new dessert items. I used to work in the pineapple fields in high school when school was out for the summer. When I was 15, I took a job in Waikiki as a dishwasher for $2 an hour. When school started again, everyone talked about the pine fields and how much fun they had working in them. The next summer I worked the fields for $1.60 an hour and had the best time working with all of my classmates. Even though it was back breaking work, and I lost sixty pounds in that summer, we made many memories and friendships. Wahiawa was born out of the plantation fields and a good part of the community worked them. It made for a close knit community.
Often in the fields, we would come across rotten, sun baked pineapples that did not smell too good. In town, the smell was also similar when you passed by the old cannery. The joke was that the country guys worked the fields and the townies worked the cannery. Anyway, because of that, I never liked cooked pineapple because of the smell. It reminded me of bad pineapple.
I really liked this dish though. I told Michelle to work on this because I think it has potential. Coming soon.