Neither of us has a pear tree* – apples are the priority on our patches – but we do have neighbours who grow a few and this year they seem to have lucked out with bumper harvests. One neighbour’s tree was so laden with fruit that bags of conference pears have been distributed to half the houses in Nick’s street. So despite our apple preference we now have a glut of pears to deal with.
The most obvious things to make with pears are crumbles and tarts, but when those options have been fully exercised what other uses are there? Here’s some surplus pear inspiration…
Grate
Pears don’t properly ripen until they have been picked. So while you’re waiting for them to soften and ooze with juice, take advantage of their crispier nature by shredding them on a grater. Grated pears can be used in numerous ways, from mixing into your morning muesli or porridge, stirred into a salad or coleslaw, baking into bread or buns, or our favourite – whisked into a pancake batter.
Freeze
Like most fruits, pears are happy to spend a while in the freezer. Core them, slice them, box or bag them and stuff them in the freezer until ready to use. Besides using them for some of the other ideas in this piece they’re particularly useful for whizzing into a smoothie when the fresh fruit bowl is low on resources. You can also whizz them up before freezing and make yourself some pear lollies.
Jam
Pear jam isn’t the most obvious preserve but it’s a tasty one, particularly if combined with a few well chosen spices. Pear and ginger works a treat but you can easily get carried away with other spices too. We’ll be using our pear surplus to try this recipe from Ginette Mathiot in House & Garden – pear jam with vanilla and clove.
Chutney
Just as spicy pears work in a sweet preserve, they also go down a treat for a sticky, savoury chutney as an alternative to apple. BBC Good Food has a recipe that looks ripe for tinkering with and we reckon the resulting pickly pears will pair great with Stilton cheese.
Booze
Yes, we’ve saved the best until last. The most well known pear-based booze is perry, but unless you specifically have perry pears then you’ll struggle to make anything decent. Instead, try making a cider flavoured with pears by chucking a few fat-bottomed fruits in with the apples.** Pear wine is also well worth attempting, producing one of the best light country wines we’ve ever made – you can our pear wine recipe on this website.
Pear liqueurs are also rather popular and can be made at home by infusing pears in sweetened spirits. It’s not something we’ve tried before but if any neighbours swing by with any more pears then it will be top of our list
*If you discount Rich’s Pointless Pear
**You can find more precise instructions for pear cider and pear wine in our book, Brew it Yourself
I was gardening in Hereford a couple of days ago and in this garden was an incredible amount of apple and pear trees. Problem was, nobody used any of this fruit and it all gets wasted year after year. I think all of this unused fruit should go to the schools, the children could pick it themselves as an educational trip. I did like your idea of Pear jam though, never heard of that before.
Hi Chris, that’s a great idea. It always saddens me to see so much fruit go to waste. This year I’ve seen lots of unpicked apples, pears, cherries and even figs.
The pear jam is tasting good and I’ve also been mixing pear with other fruit. I can recommend pear and blackberry as a jammy winner.
People have the same attitude towards my own apples and pears… Where in fact they are MINE… I planted them fed them watered them, pruned them, and yes many drop to the ground, this is nature’s way of allowing the tree to produce a lesser but better quality crop… People walk past in June July wanting to pick the fruit where it will not be ready until the end of October so think of apple bobbing for Halloween or bonfire night to educate your greed…. The ones on the ground will put nutrition back into the soil for next year and gods creatures eg birds, squirrels even little mice and rats might have a nibble if they are brave enough…. Otherwise I can wait until November to start taking a few off for my own use…. I’ve had apples on my tree which are still good to eat in January
We grow Black Worcester pears at work – a cooker, not an eater – and last year I bottled a load of the smaller ones. Just peel, slice, simmer in a light sugar syrup for a while (15 mins?) then drop them into a kilner jar, top up with the syrup and seal them up. I think they’re good for a year or so (at least, I hope they are, as I found a jar I’d missed the other day and I’m not planning on wasting them…)
Ah, yes, a great idea. We always think of pickles or booze when preserving but pears in syrup are great. Will give this a go sometime…
Love your attitude — a recipe ripe for tinkering with — and also your joy in language — ” pickly pears” et al.