Pears add a special flavour and texture to any desert, drink or dish that they are used in, crunchy pear pieces in a salad, or, when cooked they can almost disintegrate, leaving just their sweetness.
If you have a glut of pears, once they do ripen, they have to be used very quickly. Soft pears are great in smoothies or baking, they can be cut into small pieces and frozen for later use. There are plenty of recipes on the internet and pears can be substituted for apples most apple recipes.
Pear Butter
3 ripe pears, peeled and cored (reserve peels – see recipes below)
½ tsp each of ground ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, sugar
2 cloves
Juice of 1 lemon
Peel of 1 orange (optional)
Place all ingredients in a heavy-based saucepan and cook until the pears break down. Stir and squash the pear pieces regularly. If the pears you are using are not over ripe, some water may need to be added, but don’t overdo the water.
Once the pears have completely broken down, remove the cloves and orange peel. You can blend the mixture for a very smooth paste, or leave a bit chunky.
This will last in the fridge for a week.
Use as a spread like jam, add to boiling water to make a warm ‘mulled’ drink, add to smoothies or cocktails. This can even be dehydrated to make fruit leather.
Whole spices can be substituted for the ground versions, to reduce the spice grittiness, and can be removed before blending.
Pear Peels
Make a pear syrup:
Place in a saucepan ½ cup sugar and ½ cup water and the peels and boil until peels become translucent, (about 10-15 minutes). A vanilla pod can be split and boiled with syrup. Pears have a delicate flavour. To get a full-flavoured syrup, this process may need to be repeated with more peels, using the same syrup to intensify the flavour.
Strain the peels from the syrup – they will be similar to candied peels and can be eaten or discarded.
The syrup will last weeks if bottled into a sterilised jar and refrigerated.
Or make pear vinegar – the same way that apple scrap vinegar is made, peels and cores into a jar half way, then top with sugar water (1/2 cup sugar to 2 L water). Cover and wait.
Pear peels and cores do break down remarkably quickly if put into compost, worm farm, buried in the garden or feed them to your chooks!
