Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Food In Singapore 12: Pineapple Tarts

Today, I will be blogging about a popular pastry in Singapore, Pineapple Tarts

Introduction
The famous bite sized snack Pineapple Tarts is commonly eaten in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. In Malaysia, the town of Malacca is especially famous for producing delicious pineapple Tarts.

Considered a "festive cookie", pineapple tarts are usually consumed during the Chinese New Year season. While pineapple tarts are usually eaten during the Chinese New Year, they are sold all year round by commercial bakeries and by souvenir stores serving tourists.



Making the Tarts
The pineapple tarts are made with a large proportion of butter, egg yolk and cornstarch, thus giving it a rich, buttery, tender and melt-in-the-mouth texture. The pineapple jam is usually made by slowly reducing and caramelizing grated fresh pineapple that has been mixed with sugar and spices - usually cinnamon, star anise and cloves.



Personal Opinion
No doubt, this snack is a must-eat during Chinese New Year Period. Since I was young, my grandmother will always buy a few containers of pineapple tarts during the Chinese New Year period.

Anyway, I think that this snack is a very… general snack? Because almost all of the different pineapple tarts taste the same, except for the texture of the tart and the sweetness of the pineapple. For the texture, I really cannot describe what the ideal texture is; it’s something that you’ll know after you eat the snack. As for the sweetness of the snack, the optimum should be sweet enough to taste the pineapple taste but not too sweet that the sweetness will overpower the entire taste of the snack.

Food for Thought

What are other “festive snacks” that you eat during the Chinese New year period?

Credits:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple_tarts
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv96wj0B8NaHkHxz__2-l4jcQ8hc_lgVU3z198aBcOwGZdEDHP3HpLMnjoqh84FJGo-hyY43UYJoaZ295WcIHHaMH32MeEtnmtv5rW_7M4LTyD07MW0-7_6mQAtsQo9YG5fW2rzoTXjDA/s400/104+pineapple+tarts+2.JPG
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/80669369_3b731c3a26_o%282%29.jpg