Bottled Fruit: Belgian Pears recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Desserts, Jam Jelly and Preserves | 127 comments
Our pear tree
I breezed onto the internet just now to see entries for Belgian Pears. I thought that they could be a traditional dessert. Well, in Belgium, they are not. Which is a shame, as anyone, from the Belgians to the Bengalese would love this dessert.
Forget any memory of dull bottled fruit. This wonderful concoction just happens to be preserved in a jar. We tend to include this for dinner parties when we’re feeling under pressure. Many jars of this superb non-alcoholic scrumptiousness are patiently sitting in our barn, waiting to be opened and enjoyed.
Our own pears have been rotten this year. Barely a handful from the entire tree. So I drove over to the farm shop at Westley to stock up for this recipe. They had several sorts of pears but none of their own. The lady in the shop explained that their pears had failed this year, due to lack of water. They had a choice, water the potatoes or the pears.
This is a pity as the Westley pears are the best that I’ve found to buy around here. Their potatoes are pretty good too. This is the first year that I’ve tried them and it’s well worth dropping in for a bag if you’re passing. They are just like home – growns.
The recipe for Belgian Pears was given to me by my generous friend Jo. It’s great if you have a glut of pears but even if we have a poor year, I buy pears for this recipe. Belgian Pears are a superb finale for a special meal. They taste very grown up with a real of depth of flavour. Friends find it hard to believe that they are not laced with some exotic liqueur.
We put the pears into le parfait jars that we seal in a bain marie (how do I seal Le Parfait jars? See tricks and tips below). We always make a few small jars for Christmas presents. Belgian Pears last a good year; we are still enjoying the massive batch that I made last October.
| Belgian Pears recipe |
- 2 kilos of pears
- 500g of white granulated sugar
- 150 ml of white wine vinegar
- 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.
Tips and tricks:
How do I sterilise Le Parfait jars and rubber rings?
Le Parfait jars can be used over and over again, as long as they are washed and sterilised just before use. Use new rubber rings every time the jar is reused. (Rubber rings are available from good kitchen shops. Living in the country, I tend to buy up a few packs if I see them so as to have them to hand when we start bottling).
The sterilising method that we use is simple. Just before making the food, I quickly wash and rinse the jars and place them upside down in a cold oven. Set the temperature to 160c/140c for fan assisted. When the oven has reached the right temperature I turn off the heat. The jars will stay warm for quite a while.
I only use plastic lined lids for preserves as the all-metal lids can go rusty. I boil these for five minutes in water to sterilise them. If I use Le Parfait jars, I do the same with the rubber rings.
How do I vacuum seal Le Parfait jars?
Fit a new rubber ring to your washed and sterilised Le Parfait jars, and fill to the level indicated on the jar, (this will be a line on the side of the jar).
Put the jars into a deep saucepan and put an old tea towel between them so that they can’t jiggle together and break.
Pour water to a level that generously covers the jars (at least 2 inches above the lids). Bring the water slowly to the boil. When the water boils turn off the heat and let the jars stand submerged until cool.
This method works well for us and we have never found a bad seal when we come to open the jars. It’s hard to prise the lids off if there is a vacuum seal. I usually give the lids a bit off a tug to check the seals. We sometimes use glass preserving jars with screw top lids (not old jam jars but a Kilner type of jar).
Some people think that these are safer to use as you can easily see whether you have a vacuum as there is a small section in the centre of the lid that is concave if you have a obtained a good seal. Use the same method as outlined above.
USE THE INSTRUCTIONS ABOVE AT YOUR OWN RISK. ALL ‘CANNING’ /PRESERVING METHODS VARY SLIGHTLY FOR EACH TYPE OF JAR, SO TRY AND KEEP THE INSTRUCTIONS THAT COME WITH THE JARS IN A SAFE PLACE FOR FUTURE REFERENCE
Leave a reply
Hi Scots Mary
They are lovely served chilled with a little of the apple and orange butter.
Hi Fiona
Just finished making the pears -Oh Boy- hard to believe no bozzzzz was used they are wonderful
Many many thanks for so much fantastic info.
Happy birthday wishes to you Mum
Mary
Hello Anne
I’ve just made some more too! Great that you tried our chutney recipes.
The belgian pears go really well with our apple and orange butter –
https://www.cottagesmallholder.com/the-slow-cooker-chef-apple-and-orange-butter-recipe-5133
Hi all, I’ve just spent all day doing the pear reciepe, not quite enough juice to cover but they seem ok, and what is that lovely perfume, much better than wet dog! I also used your plum chutney reciepe, we had 124 kilos of plums to do things with! I made some scrumptious apple chutney too adding a few extras. More pears tomorrow. Many thanks;
oh thanks sweetheart that was quick , i keep looking in at them i,m great at burning things so i will keep checking
thanks again
hi there i have just put my pears on the stove i havent read all above as yet but do i have to stir them by stir i mean move them gently or just leave them for the time alloted till they are ready
thanks
Hello May
I tend to just leave them – checking every now and then. When I halved the quanity in the recipe I didn’t get enough juice to submerge them so I carefully turned them half way through cooking to get an even colour.
I can only add to all the praise. Just made the first batch exactly according to instructions, and we ate a couple of pears that had got a bit soggy about an hour into stage 2. They were delicious! It is amazing how much liquid they produce during stage 1.
I can say it makes a lot less than you think it will when you look at 2 kg of pears. Mine were small ones, and they filled my big oval Le Creuset cocotte. But when they were done they fitted easily into 1 x 1-litre and 1 x 500 ml Le Parfait jars. I had got out 4 jars and thought they might not fit! Next time I think I’ll make sure I use the smaller size jars.
Hi Joanna
I haven’t tried making this with cider vinegar. If you are vrave enough to try going down the cider vinegar route, I’d love to hear how you get on.
Hi Greta
Yes they are unbelievably good. Thanks so much for leaving a comment.
OH! MY! WORD!!!
I cooked these yesterday and I have to confess that the wine vinegar smell was a bit odd … But we had them this evening and they are just FAB!!!
I think that I’d reduce the sugar a bit next time as I have Type 1 diabetes (I had to really get the insulin in after I’d eaten them) but, crikey, they were good.
Thank you 🙂
Hi, I am trying to empty all my kitchen cupboards and I have cider vinegar in stock but not white wine vinegar. Has anyone tried making this recipe with cider vinegar? I would think that the flavour combination ought to work but I wouldn’t want to go to all that effort and end up with something that doesn’t taste as sublime as it should. Any thoughts?