By Mary Jo Spiegel
Enquirer contributor

It is 12 degrees outside and the snow is lingering as I write this. But in the pineapple fields of Oahu, it is 79 degrees.

How I wish I were a pineapple.

CAN YOU HELP?

• Joanne Peck in West Chester Township is looking for the fudge recipe that used to be on the back label of Hershey's cocoa. • JoAnne Enderle in Western Hills needs a recipe for uncooked chocolate fudge that uses powdered sugar, not marshmallows.

In the mid '90s, my brand-new husband and I house-sat a small farm on Oahu for two weeks. Wild chickens woke us and just outside the house, we picked grapefruit and carambola for breakfast.

We spent the days bicycling around the rural area, snacking on guavas from scrubby trees and eating at roadside stands. We rode through acres and acres of commercial pineapple fields, but didn't eat a single one.

Although Hawaii produces at least one-third of the world's pineapple crop, buying a pineapple there, on Oahu, was close to impossible. The good ones go to export. It's easier (and cheaper) to buy a pineapple here.

Pineapples are in season year round, so chase away winter with a dose of the tropics in these recipes And if you've given up sweets for Lent, close your eyes and dream of Hawaii.

Pin wheel update: Last column, I wrote about Hazel Fullreide, school dietitian who developed Withrow's popular pin wheel lunch in the 1940s. Bob McKeever, coordinator for Withrow Alumni Inc., notes that Fullreide, who returned to Nebraska upon retiring in 1971, "was a remarkable woman who lived for 105 years," passing in July 2002. Active and still driving after a century, perhaps good cooking was her secret.

Send food questions, tips, recipe requests and recipes to Saucy Cook, the Enquirer, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati 45202. E-mail: foodlady@zoomtown.com. Please include name, neighborhood, e-mail and phone number.

• George Bang in Amelia wants a strawberry or pineapple cottage cheese pie. I hope this recipe from Dole Foods comes close to his favorite. Don't substitute fresh pineapple. Its enzyme, bromelain, prevents the gelatin from setting.

No-Bake Pineapple Squares

CRUST

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup light margarine, melted

FILLING

1 cup fat-free or light sour cream (or small curd cottage cheese)

4 ounces light cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup orange marmalade or apricot fruit spread, divided

1 can (20-ounce) crushed pineapple

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

Whipped cream for topping

Make crust by combining crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar and margarine. Pat onto bottom of 8-inch square baking dish and chill.

Meanwhile make filling. Beat together sour cream, cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon marmalade in medium bowl until smooth; set aside. Drain pineapple; reserving 1/4 cup juice. Sprinkle gelatin over reserved juice in small saucepan; let stand one minute. Stir juice over low heat until gelatin dissolves. Beat juice mixture into sour cream mixture until blended, then spread evenly over crust.

Stir together pineapple and remaining 3 tablespoons orange marmalade in small bowl until blended and spread over sour cream filling. Top with whipped cream if desired. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours or until firm. Makes 16 squares.

• Two tropical tastes in this Southern Living magazine recipe for Lisa Bennett in Harrison.

Pineapple-Coconut Chess Pie

11/2 cups sugar

3 tablespoons cornmeal

2 tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup butter, melted

31/2 ounces flaked coconut

1 can (15-ounce) crushed pineapple; well-drained

1 unbaked 9-inch pastry shell

Whisk together sugar, cornmeal, flour and salt in a large bowl. Stir in eggs, vanilla and butter until blended. Fold in coconut and pineapple. Pour into pastry shell. Bake at 350 degrees 1 hour or until set.

(If pie browns too quickly, loosely cover with aluminum foil during baking.) Let pie cool before cutting. Makes 8 servings.