Pineapple Coconut Milkshake

We’re going to my family’s summer cabin this summer and I’m feeling a little bit nostalgic. My husband has never been, my daughter obviously hasn’t and (somehow?!) I haven’t been in fifteen years. I can’t wait, I hope it hasn’t shrunk too much.

We had a deal growing up that for every book we read throughout the year, we got an Archie comic to save to read during the summer at our cabin. My sisters and I read a lot, which equaled a lot of Archie comics by the time the summer arrived. There was no electricity, so we would spend a lot of time reading Archies, reading books and becoming way too good at every card game ever invented. I still know how to shuffle like a blackjack dealer, it’s sort of embarrassing.

Anyway, where I’m going with this, is in case you were deprived electricity or found Archie comics in some other way (and I’m not talking about Riverdale the tv show, I’m talking about the somehow both dated and timeless, quirky and inconsistent comics), didn’t you always wonder what they were drinking at Pop Tate’s Chocklit Shoppe? It was a soda shop but they never appeared to be drinking plain old soda (known in Canada as pop).

It looked more like a milk shake, but with picturesque overflowing bubbles (it never occurred to me at the time, but it was probably an ice cream float). They were always sharing them with their date, drinking one with two straws and closed eyes. I imagined if I dated Archie (although I was more of a Jughead girl, mostly due to apparent slim pickings in Riverdale and his love of food) I’d make him get his own. And that made me wonder if I’d be terrible at dating (I sort of am, I think, I don’t remember, is anyone good?).

I first made this drink because my sister gave me a sip of hers at this great, greener than normal Vietnamese restaurant that we go to regularly. I wasn’t expecting something so rich to be so refreshing and delicious, but it really was. The first time I got my own, I closed my eyes when I drank it and thought about Pop Tate’s infamous sodas.

The one from the Vietnamese restaurant is a little on the sweet side and likely sweetened with simple syrup (sugar), but besides that, this falls pretty close to the original. And with the whisper of pineapple that we’ve added to sweeten it naturally, it is absolutely delicious. Rich from the coconut cream (the top layer of canned coconut milk that’s been in the fridge for a few hours), refreshing thanks to the coconut water (very hydrating) and pineapple, which is pretty amazing in itself.

It is considered anti-inflammatory thanks to its bromelain content. This same bromelain (found abundantly in the core, so make sure to use that too) is good at digesting proteins and starches as well as the stuff your body doesn’t want like foreign microbes, intestinal parasites and diseased cells.

Unless you live in a place where hammocks swing year-round, pineapple probably isn’t local to you. I still use it on occasion because of its health benefits, but I try to keep it to the warmer months. If you’d prefer to use local berries or peaches or whatever fruit is local to you right now, go for it, it would be great with pretty much any ripe, delicious fruit.

This isn’t meant to be dessert-sweet, just fresh and alive sweet, which is why there isn’t much fruit in it. For this reason, I don’t recommend adding a handful of kale or greens to it, unless you want it to taste like kale. It’s just meant to be a refreshing, hydrating, cooling, satisfying non-green drink.

I made this for me three days last week and shared, just like at Pop Tate’s, with my 6-month-old (which was perfect because she hasn’t figured out how to use a straw yet). If you plan on sharing with a straw-savvy Archie-style character, make sure to double the recipe so that it’s not over too soon.