Author: Lindgren, Astrid
Book: Pippi Longstocking
Difficulty rating: Little Women
Deliciousness rating: Outstanding
Part of Pippi’s Picnic
They looked, and they squealed with delight when they saw all the good things Pippi had spread on the bare rock. There were good sandwiches with meatballs and ham, a whole pile of sugared pancakes, several little brown sausages, and three pineapple puddings. For, you see, Pippi had learned cooking from the cook on her father’s ship. (Lindgren 55)
Did it measure up?
This was surprisingly pleasant! It’s creamy but not too heavy, and Mary Berry would say that the sherry really comes through. It might be fun to try swapping in rum for the sherry.
PIPPI’S PINEAPPLE PUDDING
Based on the Pineapple Cream recipe from Inga Norberg’s Good Food from Sweden
We had to do a bit of research to figure out what Astrid Lindgren might have meant by “pineapple puddings.” After combing through the two cookbooks we found, Inga Norberg’s Good Food from Sweden and Marianne Grönwall van der Tuuk’s Best of Swedish Cooking and Baking, we found two possibilities: (1) a pineapple chiffon pudding called ananasfromage, and (2) a baked fruit pudding that adventurous Pippi would put pineapple into because she grew up in the South Seas.
We asked MetaFilter for help, and user gemmy, who grew up in Sweden, commented, “I agree that the inclusion of pineapple is a hint at her South Seas upbringing, since it was still pretty exotic even when I was a kid in the 70s. And I would also guess at a version of fromage with crushed pineapple. My ‘Vår Kokbok’ (Our Cookbook) has an entry in the index for Ananaspudding that leads to this page for lemon fromage, of which a variant is with pineapple. And it’s very similar to the one on this page for ‘Hemmets Kokbok’ (The Home Cookbook) — search for “‘Kall ananaspudding.'”
The ananasfromage sounded more exciting to us anyway, so we decided to try option 1 as suggested!
Ingredients & Supplies Needed:
- Pudding mold(s)
- 1 tbs gelatin
- 2 tbs cold water
- 1 cup cream
- 1 cup canned crushed pineapple
- 4 yolks
- 1 egg white
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 2 tbs sherry
- 4 tbs pineapple juice
Directions:
- Soften gelatin in 2 tbs cold water.
- Put the pineapple into straining cloth and press out the juice.
- Whip the cream to the stiff-peak stage.
- Mix the yolks, egg white, sugar, sherry, and pineapple juice in a saucepan. Stir constantly over medium heat until the mixture thickens, but you can’t let it boil.
- Add the gelatin softened in water. Remove from the heat and keep on beating until it’s cooled.
- Add whipped cream, and, last of all, the crushed pineapple.
- Rinse the mold(s) in cold water and sprinkle with sugar. Pour the mixture into the molds, cover, and put in the fridge till set.
- Once the pudding is set, turn it out and eat.
Norberg, Inga. Good Food from Sweden. New York: Sweden House, 1939.
Lindgren, Astrid. New York: Viking Press, 1950.
36 Eggs 
