Preserved Spiced Pears
Updated: Jan 4, 2022
These are lovely with cold meats and cheese, or hot roasted duck, pheasant, chicken or pork and would be great with any Christmas leftovers. Although, I could happily eat them on their own straight from the jar! They would make a good Christmas gift too and you can easily double or treble the recipe. The recipe would also work with apples, but you may need to reduce the cooking times as I found apples to cook more quickly than the pears (though that would also depend on the variety). Peaches would also work well, although they are not something I can easily forage or grow in abundance, so I am yet to try!
I’ve created this recipe using a couple of recipes I found (River Cottage Handbook No.2, Preserves by Pam Corbin and BBC Good Food website) and changed according to my taste. I think the combination works well but you could change the herbs and spices if you would prefer.
Makes a 1 litre jar
Ingredients
1kg pears
300g sugar (light brown sugar is best but you can use granulated sugar)
250ml cider vinegar
250ml white wine vinegar
5cm piece of ginger, thinly sliced (no need to peel)
½ lemon cut into thin slices
2 bay leaves
Stick of cinnamon
1 dessertspoon peppercorns
½ tsp whole cloves
Method
Put all the ingredients, except the pears, into a large saucepan/preserving pan. Place on a low heat and allow to come to the boil slowly.
Stir every so often to dissolve the sugar and make sure it doesn’t burn on the bottom of the pan.
Meanwhile, peel the pears, leaving the stalks and the base florets if you can (see Tips).
Plunge each pear into a bowl of cold water once peeled.
Check the sugar has dissolved, drain the pears and add them to the saucepan.
Bring everything to a gentle simmer and cook the pears for 15-20 minutes until they are just tender but firmly shaped still.
Remove the pears and slices of lemon and ginger with a slotted spoon and pack into warm sterilised jar with rubber seal (see Tips).
Now boil the syrup hard, stirring occasionally, to reduce it for around 5 minutes until it thickens. You do not want it to burn.
Pour the syrup and spices over the pears to fill the jar to its neck and completely cover the pears.
Cover and seal the jar. When the contents are completely cold, store in a cool, dark place for one month before using.
The pears will keep well for up to 6 months. Once opened store in the fridge.
Tips
I was not able to keep the stalks for all the pears I used, so ended up with a mixture of whole pears and larger chunks. If this happens cook the smaller pieces for less time (5-10 minutes depending on size) so they do not soften too much. Remove when just tender but firmly shaped still.
As mentioned, I have tried this recipe using apples, cutting into them into large chunks, but as above, adjust the times accordingly and cook so the apples are tender but not too soft.
You will need a jar with a glass/plastic lid as vinegar will corrode metal.
The jar should be washed thoroughly in warm, soapy water, rinsed and dried in the oven at 180C/160 C fan/gas 4 for 5 minutes. If your jar has a rubber seal remove this before placing jar in the oven. The seal can be sterilised by boiling in water.
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