A pineapple bun () is a kind of

sweet bun A sweet roll or sweet bun refers to any of a number of sweet, baked, yeast-leavened breakfast or dessert foods. They may contain spices, nuts, candied fruits, etc., and are often glazed or topped with icing. Compared to regular bread dough, sw ...

predominantly popular in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

and also common in

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Aust ...

s worldwide. Despite the name, it does not traditionally contain

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...

; rather, the name refers to the look of the characteristic topping (which resembles the texture of a pineapple).

History

In June 2014, the

Hong Kong Government The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government, refers to the executive authorities of Hong Kong SAR. It was formed on 1 July 1997 in accordance with the Sino- ...

listed the pineapple bun as a part of

's intangible cultural heritage. Tai Tung Bakery in Yuen Long, which had been making pineapple buns for more than 70 years, was a key proponent of including the technique for making the buns on the list of 480 items of living heritage.

Composition

The top of the pineapple bun (the part which is made to resemble a pineapple) is made of a dough similar to that used to make

sugar cookie A sugar cookie is a cookie with the main ingredients being sugar, flour, butter, eggs, vanilla, and either baking powder or baking soda (depending on the type of sugar used). Sugar cookies may be formed by hand, dropped, or rolled and cut in ...

s, which consists of sugar, eggs, flour, and

lard Lard is a semi-solid white fat product obtained by rendering the fatty tissue of a pig.Lard
entry in the ...

. It is crunchy and is quite sweet compared to the bread underneath. The bread dough underneath is that of which is used in Hong Kong-style breads, which is a softer and sweeter dough than in European breads. It is popular at breakfast or afternoon tea. Although it is known as a "pineapple bun", the traditional version contains no pineapple. The name originated from the fact that its sugary top crust is cooked to a golden-brown colour, and because its checkered top resembles the

epicarp Fruit anatomy is the plant anatomy of the internal structure of fruit. Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits. Aggre ...

of a pineapple.

Buttered variant

Many Hong Kong restaurants, such as ''

cha chaan teng ''Cha chaan teng'' (; "tea restaurant"), often called a Hong Kong-style cafe or diner in English, is a type of restaurant that originated in Hong Kong. Cha chaan teng are commonly found in Hong Kong, Macau, and parts of Guangdong. Due to th ...

s'' and '' dai pai dongs'', offer an item called a buttered pineapple bun, which is a pineapple bun with a slice of

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condim ...

stuffed inside. They are known in Cantonese as ''boh loh yau'' (菠蘿油), in which ''boh loh'' means "pineapple", and ''yau'' (oil) refers to butter. Variants of this include using

custard Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency fr ...

in place of butter. Typically the bun is brought hot from the oven to the diner's table, and served halved with a large slab of butter in between the halves.

Other common variants

The pineapple bun may come in miniature sizes (迷你菠蘿包), it may be used as a bread roll for sandwiches with luncheon meat (餐肉菠蘿包), or it may be pre-stuffed with

red bean paste Red bean paste () or red bean jam, also called adzuki bean paste or ''anko'' (a Japanese word), is a paste made of red beans (also called "adzuki beans"), used in East Asian cuisine. The paste is prepared by boiling the beans, then mashing or ...

(紅豆菠蘿包), custard cream (奶黃菠蘿包), barbecued pork (叉燒菠蘿包), or a sweet filling of shredded coconut (椰絲菠蘿包) like that in a

cocktail bun The cocktail bun () is a Hong Kong-style sweet bun with a filling of shredded coconut. It is one of several iconic types of baked goods originating from Hong Kong. History The cocktail bun is said to have been created in the 1950s in Hong K ...

. It is possible to order a "pineapple pineapple bun", actually stuffed with pineapple (菠蘿菠蘿包). Japanese melonpan and Korean soboro bread are variants that use the same ingredients for a German

streusel In baking and pastry making, streusel () is a crumbly topping of flour, butter, and sugar that is baked on top of muffins, breads, pies, and cakes.

-like texture on top but without resemblance to a pineapple.

Controversy

In September 2014, a police raid in Hong Kong found that, unwittingly, several suppliers (including Starbucks, 7-Eleven and Cafe Express) had been selling pineapple buns made with tainted oil, known as " gutter oil", from an unlicensed factory in Taiwan. This oil was recycled from kitchen waste, as well as being a by-product of leather processing and offal from slaughterhouses. In October 2020, a Japanese bakery ''c'est très fou'' launched the product "Taiwanese pineapple bun", which received criticism for suggesting the product originated in Taiwan, though the bakery's introduction of the product had correctly mentioned that the bun originated in Hong Kong.

References

External links

{{Hong Kong cuisine Dim sum Sweet breads Macanese cuisine Buns Hong Kong breads Stuffed dishes