Spicy & Sweet Pineapple Cinnamon Juice Concentrate

If you know me, you’ll know my absolute favorite fruit is pineapple. Summer is the best with it so fresh and JUICY! When it drops in temperature I always feel like pineapple is no longer given the same love and it makes me so sad! I decided to switch that up by making this spicy pineapple & cinnamon juice concentrate!

This spicy pineapple & cinnamon juice concentrate can be mixed with ginger beer or club soda for a non-alcoholic beverage/mocktail, or mix with alcohol for a sweet & spicy cocktail! It’s the perfect blend of sweet, acidic and spicy! If you want some suggestions for what to do with it, check out my recipes for:

• Spicy Cinnamon Pineapple & Ginger Mocktail
• Fall Spiced Pineapple Moscow Mule

To make this spicy pineapple & cinnamon juice concentrate, I used leftover frozen pineapple to make my own pineapple juice. I’m not one to waste food, and especially not with my favorite fruit pineapple! When I most recently cut up a large pineapple at the end of the summer, I saved a large baggie of cubes to enjoy for the year. I decided to use some of my prime pineapple savings for a homemade pineapple juice to make this concentrate extra natural (TBH I was also being too lazy to pick up pineapple juice from the store!). If you don’t have frozen pineapple (I’m not sure why you wouldn’t?!), then you can easily use fresh pineapple juice or frozen pineapple from the store. Be careful with pineapple juice from the store as it’s possible it can make the juice concentrate a little on the sweeter side!

The steps for this spicy pineapple & cinnamon juice concentrate are surprisingly easy! Blend frozen pineapple and water then boil in a small saucepan with fresh lime juice and spices. Real talk, I had the worst limes ever and it took me nearly 20 just to get enough lime juice!! Next you’ll strain into a small jar until you’re ready to use it!

INGREDIENTS for ~1 Cup Spicy Pineapple & Cinnamon Juice Concentrate

1 Cup Frozen Pineapple

1 Cup Water

½ Cup Lime Juice

10 Peppercorns

2 Cloves

1 Star Anise

1 TSP Cinnamon

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Blend frozen pineapple and water until smooth.
2. Pour pineapple juice into a small saucepan. Add lime juice and turn on medium-high heat.
3. Add in cloves, cinnamon, star anise, and peppercorns to the juice in the saucepan.
4. Bring the juice concentrate to a boil. Once at a boil, bring down to a simmer.
5. Allow the liquid to reduce by half, about 4-5 minutes.
6. Leave to cool ~10-minutes on the stove and then strain into a small airtight-capable jar or container. (My juice was pretty thick so I had to use a spoon to push the juice through the strainer – if you find your juice not go easily through the strainer, try this!)
7. Store in the fridge for up to ~2 weeks but believe me it’ll go fast!

Want to change up this spicy pineapple & cinnamon juice concentrate up?

You can try this juice concentrate changed up a few ways:

• Try using orange juice instead of pineapple juice.
• Play around with spices – add nutmeg or cardamom.
• Use citrus zest of limes or oranges.