Preserved Pears
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pears
Procure some Jargonelle pears, not too ripe.
Put them into a stewpan with sufficient water to cover them.
Simmer them until rather tender, but do not allow them to break.
Transfer them into cold water.
Make the syrup and cook
Boil the sugar and water together for 5 minutes. Skim well.
Put the pears into the syrup.
Simmer gently for 5 minutes.
Repeat the simmering for 3 successive days, taking care not to let the fruit break.
On the last day, boil the syrup to make it richer and boil the fruit for 10 minutes.
Dry and finish
When the pears are done, drain them from the syrup.
Dry them in the sun or in a cool oven, or keep them in the syrup and dry as desired.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Pears (in the method)
- Provide the fruit that softens and becomes preserved through repeated gentle simmering in syrup.
- Sugar (in the method)
- Sweetens the pears and, as a concentrated syrup, helps preserve the fruit.
The step that matters
Repeated gentle simmering. Pears that boil hard or are cooked too long will break apart. Gentle simmering softens the fruit while keeping its shape, and repeating it over several days lets the syrup penetrate slowly.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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