Two ways with pears

Lately i have been having my way with pears!! Thanks to a generous donation from Ali and Blair's Maldon orchard i have had plenty of tasty fruit to play with. First I tried making the Belgian Pear recipe below. It asks for whole pears but i had to work around a little bit of codling moth so mine were cut into pieces. There were some advantages to working this way as it shortened the cooking time by half (3-4 hours as apposed to 6!) but i imagine whole pears would make quite a spectacle when served as they turn a honey pink colour. These pears were delicious, beautifully textured and oh so flavour some if served with a little or a lot of cream! I think i would double the recipe next time as they make a special preserved dessert option to have on hand.

I also tried making the Ginger and Pear Preserves. These turned out well despite or perhaps because I cut back on the sugar.

The other recipe i tried was an upside down pear cake however, this was not as satisfying as i hoped because the syrup leaked out making a mess in the bottom of my oven. I made it in a quick release tin lined with baking paper but it really must be made in a tin without any seams. I seemed to remember making this mistake before duhh!! Sorry too despondent to include the recipe:(

Belgian Pears recipe

Ingredients:

2 kilos of pears

500g of white granulated sugar

150 ml of white wine vinegar

Method:

Wash and peel the pears. Leaving the stalk on.

Melt the sugar in the vinegar and any pear juice in a large heavy bottomed saucepan.

Add the pears and simmer gently with a lid tight fitting lid for three hours.

Remove the lid and simmer for a further three hours with the lid off.

Pot into sterilised jars and seal in a Bain Marie.

Test the seals when cold before labelling and storing.

N.B. You need 2 kilos of pears. 1 kilo doesn’t make enough juice if you are going to bottle them.

Thanks to the www.cottagesmallholder.com/

Ginger pear preserves

Ingredients:

3 cups granulated sugar

3 cups water

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely chopped or grated

2 lbs pears, cored, peeled, and quartered

3 tablespoons crystallized ginger, chopped (candied ginger)

5 or 6 half-pint jars and lids

Preparation:

Sterilize the half-pint jars and lids and set them aside.

In a large saucepan, heat the sugar, water, lemon juice, lemon zest, and fresh ginger to a boil. Lower the temperature so the mixture is simmering, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.

Add the quartered pears and crystallized ginger to the saucepan and continue cooking for 30 minutes, until the preserves thicken and coat a spoon.

Pack the pears and gingered syrup into the sterilized jars, and seal in a boiling water canner.

This gingered pear preserves recipe makes 5 to 6 half-pint jars.