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
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Dear Sam
Am about to embark on your belgian pears recipe and wanted to check whether I am right to not core the pears? Do you find you can eat it pips and all? Hope you can advise.
By the way made the roehip and apple jelly a few weeks ago – it was scrummy!
Many Thanks.
Hi Julie O
So pleased that the recipe worked well for you.
I don’t think that we have Fowler’s jars over here – I haven’t seen them in the shops around here.
Hello Felicity
I don’t know whether freezing would work as well as bottling. Sorry. I do know that if you bottle them you’d have longer to devour them. They keep for at least a year.
Do you think freezing would work as well as the parfait jar method?
Wow, they are simply delicious! I found this page by just google searching for a recipe for pears and had 2 cases of pears to use up. I had bottled the majority of them already using Fowlers Vacola bottles (which is our traditional method of bottling in Australia, google it to see) and I just had to have a go at this recipe. Wow, they really are good. I found though, that I didn’t need to simmer them for as long as 3 hours and then another 3 hours so what I did, was, to simmer them in the pan with the lid fitting tighly for about 1.5 hours, then I put them and the juices into the sterilised jars, added the rings, lids and clips and simmered them in the boiler for about another hour. This did the trick and we ate the few that just couldn’t fit into the jars (no sacrifice at all). I made some jam with the very soft pears and am so impressed with this recipe that I am going to buy some more pears next week and bottle some more as I have run out of pears. I used Josephine pears which are fabulous for bottling as they are pretty firm and don’t have that tall neck to peel and fit into the jars.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know as someone else may find this info useful if they are in Australia and have a fowlers sterilsing/bottling unit. We do have the jars you mention here, but they aren’t so well known as Fowlers are. I don’t know if you have anything like them over there or not?
Hi Gracie
I’m so pleased that you liked the recipe. They keep for ages!
I have now made many bottles of these delicious pears and given several as gifts.
Thankyou so much for the recipe.
Gracie from Australia
Hi Tracy,
There is no taste of vinegar, just sweet pears in an intense pear syrup.
hi,
This recipe sounds just what I’m after to use several pounds of pears from a kind neighbour’s tree. I have a couple of questions though…
Is there any hint of a vinegar taste left once the pears are cooked? Or does it resemble a sweet chutney/ I hate vinegar intensely and don’t like chutney either.
Tracy
Hi Sam,
They are delicious. I am going to make some more for Christmas presents.
yum! what a grown up treat! husband came home to find busy bee wife bottling the pears and shaking the sloe gin and raspberry gin! i will definately be making this again and your instructions were so clear and concise that i didn’t blow the house up. thank you!