Upside-Down Again

Because this little booklet practically fell right off the shelf into my hands this morning, and upside-down cakes seem to keep popping up all over the place, I had to include it today.

A magazine or newspaper insert, the pineapple cookbook (undated, 8 pp.) was published by Dole in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Dole Company is named as a division of Castle & Cooke, Inc so the booklet was published after the merger of the two companies in 1961. It looks kind of late 60-ish or early 70-ish to me.

The booklet has 12 recipes from the Dole Kitchens and also 12 Pineapple Quickies which are short little suggestions on what you can do with canned pineapple. One Quickie is to "Add drained pineapple chunks, or crushed pineapple, to cole slaw for a bright flavor change". I like to add crushed pineapple to my chicken salad. Nobody (i.e. those who profess to hate pineapple) even knows it's there and I think it really enhances the taste of the salad.

What caught my attention about this booklet, however, is the cake pan shown on the front cover. You could order this teflon-lined upside-down cake pan with indentions for pineapple slices for only $2.00 and 2 Dole labels.



While I've never really had any problem with the pineapple slices sitting in the bottom of the pan all by themselves and coming out nicely on top at the end, I guess it could be a problem or they wouldn't have designed the pan.

I found these Nordic Ware cake pans that are essentially the same thing, but nicer.

In case you're not into cake, how about a salad instead?

PINEAPPLE UPSIDE-DOWN SALAD

5 TO 7 slices Dole Pineapple (No. 2 or 1 lb., 4 oz. can)
3/4 cup pineapple syrup
3/4 cup water
1 package (3 oz.) orange flavor gelatin
5 to 7 maraschino cherries
1 cup cottage cheese

Drain pineapple and reserve syrup. Combine syrup and water and bring to a boil. Pour over orange gelatin and stir until dissolved. Arrange pineapple and cherries in an 8 or 9-inch round cake pan. Pour half of the gelatin over pineapple. Chill until set. Meanwhile, keep remaining gelatin at room temperature.

Combine remaining gelatin with cottage cheese and pour over the "set" gelatin. Chill until firm. Unmold on crisp greens.

Makes 5 or 6 servings.