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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Hi Natalia
You need the long simmering process to produce the delicious syrup from the vinegar and sugar. leaving the peel on the pears would spoil them, I think.
Perhaps a simpler recipe with a just a sugar syrup would be a better idea for you.
I peel my pears using an apple peeling machine.
Oh, as a follow on, this may sound silly, but have you ever tried a jar with unpeeled pears? My pears are pretty perfect but so tiny, and I wouldn’t mind if the peel came off by itself in the jar, just not sure if I should experiment.
I have a huge amount of tiny pears and would like to try this, but because I have so many I’d like to simplify if possible. Do you think it would work to just heat them in the syrup and let the canning process and time after do what the simmering does? Would it be a very bad result?
Thank you!
Hi Jo
They are so delicious, these pears. We make them every year.
A diffuser would be a good idea.
What a pity about your pan. One year I seled mine in a bain marie and they were fine.
Hi Kate
I haven’t actually made these pears in the slow cooker but I might give it a go this year.
So I have no idea how they would turn out. The timings would be the same. Lid on and lid off the same. And I’m sure that the ingredients would be the same. I’d like to be around while they are cooking just incase something goes wrong!
This loooks lovely and I’m planning on making a batch for Christmas presents. You mention about making it in a slow cooker – this would be ideal as I could leave it on overnight – but I’m not really sure about timings – and would the quantities remain the same?
I am just in the final stages of making these pears – it’s so easy and they taste amazing! I too am no domestic goddess, but have a pear tree in the garden with lots of lovely fruit this year, and didn’t want it to go to waste. Like the person above, I found you via Google… what a find! Thanks so much for such lovely ideas and such clear advice.
I think the lowest simmer my hob could manage was a little too high so am going to look for a diffuser. Having said that, I do have lots of lovely liquid. I am down 2 pears already even though they have a few minutes left to go – couldn’t resist 🙂
And I am going to have to invest in a taller pan -I can’t seal some of the bigger jars I bought in any of my pans. Live and learn 🙂
Hi Enid
I love these pears too. They taste sublime. Danny is already pestering me to make some more this year.
Thanks for the great ideas on how to serve them too!
Hi Trish
I agree with you. This is a perfect recipe to impress 🙂
You could try putting a diffuser under your saucepan.
Hi Wendy
I don’t see why not. I think that I might have a go at using the slow cooker too.
Do you think these could be made in the slowcooker?
I agree with Enid – now I’ve tried this recipe I think I’ll be making it every year forever!
My pears were tiny so only needed half the time simmering, coupled with the fact that my gas hob won’t simmer low enough which is why I ran out of juice this time, but now I know to use double the liquid it should counteract that next time I home.
I can’t wait to impress the mother in law with these – she’ll wonder how I’ve suddenly turned into such a domestic goddess!!;o)
I’ve made my second batch of these and bottled them. We ate the first batch when some friends came to stay for a weekend and they were phenomenal served with marscapone. The second lot had more liquid as I doubled the receipe so I have a jar plus some more in a tupperware container in the fridge. I am going to get some more pears and add this liquid to it. It’s also great on strawberries and marscapone with shortbread just simply poured over them. I can’t wait for the next batch – I haven’t tasted anything quite so delicious and yummy. Don’t throw away any extra liquid – some of my pears went brown, others pink so there is no knowing but they are simply the best ever.