Wildlife Preserves: Spiced Pear with Balsamic and Pepper

I ordered some labels for my preserves, to replace the old computer address labels I was using. My excuse was that they were too hard to soak off when reusing jars. Browsing the choices at My Own Labels , I surrendered to my silly side, and gave my jam a name other than my own. I felt as if having my name actually printed on all those labels would be a bit like hanging a bunch of photos of myself all over the apartment. It seemed too much, somehow. In the end this is probably even more over the top, but it's too late now, I've got tons of them, and they will be pasted on all my future jam jars and the like. There's a nice big space to write what's inside, and the date.

The beautiful, perfect Bartletts I bought several days ago have been turned into a spicy preserve which seems right for autumn. Despite its myriad slightly fussy ingredients, it tastes intensely and mainly of pear. Based on my sample glob, which gelled nicely, it is almost shockingly pear-y. This is what I want out of a fruit preserve- that it should have a zing of the fresh flavor, concentrated. I had been worried, because of the strong spices, that this lot might not. The spices are just right, it turns out, which is usually the case with Christine Ferber's recipes.

This one is adapted from her Mes Confitures. Ms. Ferber's pear preserves generally call for pear slices, but these seem bulky to me; probably the pears she works with are smaller than these huge Bartletts. In the past, I've found the sliced pears a tad underdone by gelling time, and awkward to spread as well. So I cubed them this time, and it's worked well for me. I used my second to last jar of green apple pectin jelly to make this, so until next summer, I've only one left. I used raw sugar, as I discovered belatedly that I was all out of the refined kind.

It includes about 3 lbs of peeled and cubed pears, 3 1/2 oz of floral honey, 3 3/4 cups raw sugar, 3 1/2 oz of non-heirloom type ordinary balsamic vinegar, a cinnamon stick, 2 star anise, and 4 each crushed peppercorns and cardomon, and a cup of green apple jelly.

To make it you: boil the vinegar and honey together, and pour over the cubed pears, which you have placed in a ceramic bowl. Add everything but the green apple jelly, and let them sit for an hour. Put in a copper or nonreactive preserving
pan. Bring back to a boil, turn off heat, and put back in the bowl. Cover with parchment, and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, strain the pears in a sieve over the preserving pan. Put pears aside, bring juices to a boil, and cook briskly until the liquid reaches 221F on your (indispensible) candy thermometer. Add the apple jelly and mix in thoroughly, mooshing it up until it is smoothly mixed with the gelling juices. Add pears and cook about 5 minutes more on a high heat. Spoon into sterilized 1/2pint jars, and seal. Leave on a kitchen towel until morning. Press down on lids to check for seal. Refrigerate any boingers, and use them first.

If you haven't got green apple jelly, it's too late to make some this year. It must be made from unripe, early season apples. I'll bet a bit of commercial pectin would do the job, according to packet directions. I made some white peach preserves with basil using commercial pectin, and they were pretty nice, too.

Comments

[Braden]

I love your blog. Your style of writing, and the way you describe the dishes you make. I love it. I think you should author a cookbook. Your writing style will surely make it sell. You site is now one of my favorite sites to visit. You're blog-rolled on my blog. :) Thanks for sharing your experiences!

[lindy]

Thanks for the kind comments, Braden. Much appreciated.