Pears in syrup for winter: halves in jars with cinnamon and cloves
A September dessert sealed in a jar: firm pears peeled and halved, briefly poached in a light syrup with cinnamon, cloves and lemon zest, covered and pasteurised. In winter one half with ice cream and chocolate is a restaurant dessert, and two beside roast duck are the classic side. Five 500 ml jars from two kilos of pears.
Your own work in that: 40 min.
- Peeling 25 min
- Syrup and poaching 15 min
- Pasteurising 20 min
- Cooling 30 min
Step by step
0 / 6 donePeel and halve the pears
Squeeze the juice of one lemon into a large bowl of cold water. Peel the pears with a vegetable peeler, halve lengthways, scoop out the core with a teaspoon and cut out the fibrous strand from the stalk. Drop the halves straight into the lemon water. Scald five 500 ml jars and their lids.
Ingredients: 2000 g pears · 2 pcs lemons
TipThe pears should be firm, slightly underripe. Soft, juicy ones collapse into purée in poaching and pasteurising. The test: a thumb leaves no dent by the stalk.
Halves without cores, into lemon waterBoil the spiced syrup
Peel the zest from the second lemon in wide strips with a peeler, no white pith, and squeeze the juice. Bring the water with the sugar, cinnamon, cloves, zest and juice to the boil in a wide pot, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Boil 5 minutes.
Ingredients: 1000 ml water · 300 g sugar · 2 pcs cinnamon sticks · 6 pcs cloves
TipA syrup of 300 g sugar per litre of water is light: pears are sweet by themselves. For desserts with ice cream you can use 400 g; for duck keep it at 300.
Cinnamon, cloves, lemon zest, five minutesPoach the pears briefly
Put the drained halves into the syrup in a single layer (in batches if they don't fit) and simmer 5 minutes, until the edges turn slightly translucent and a knife goes in with resistance. Not until soft: they finish in the pasteurising and in the jar.
TipA short poach drives the air out of the fruit, so it doesn't float up and brown in the jar. Too long gives mushy pears.
Five minutes, glassy edges, firm centrePack the jars and cover
Lift the halves out with a slotted spoon and pack them tightly into the hot jars cut side down, up to about 3 cm below the rim; add a piece of cinnamon and a strip of zest from the syrup to each. Pour in the boiling syrup to cover the pears, 2 cm below the rim; if it runs short, top up with boiling water. Wipe the threads, screw on the lids.
Cut side down, cinnamon in each, syrup 2 cm from the rimPasteurise
Stand the jars in a pot on a folded cloth, add hot water to three-quarters of their height, bring to the boil and pasteurise 20 minutes from the boil over low heat. Lift out, stand upside down 10 minutes, turn upright and leave to cool. The lids should pull down.
Twenty minutes from the boilIn winter: dessert or with duck
Sealed jars keep a year in a cool pantry; the flavour is best after 3 weeks. For dessert: a half with vanilla ice cream and melted chocolate, like a poire belle Hélène. For dinner: halves warmed in a little syrup beside duck, goose or roast pork. The syrup from the jar goes into tea instead of sugar, or into a cocktail.
With ice cream and chocolate, or beside duck
Before you start
With red wine
500 ml dry red wine instead of 500 ml of the water: ruby pears, for blue cheese and a charcuterie board.
With vanilla and ginger
A piece of vanilla pod and 5 slices of ginger instead of the cloves: milder, for ice cream and cheesecake.
They floated and browned on top
Poached too briefly or too little syrup. Poach the full 5 minutes and pour so the syrup covers the fruit. Pears from a sealed jar are fine to eat; the top halves just look less pretty.