Caramelized Pear Butter

In a determination to not let food go to waste, we've canned more food this summer than we ever have in past seasons — cherry jam, pickled beets, dilly beans, bread and butter cucumbers, peach salsa, peach jam, watermelon rinds, pear chutney, pear relish, and pear butter.

I wish I had documented every thing we canned to share with you, but lately I've been taking a much needed break from blogging recipes (sometimes it's just nice to eat food without documenting it), and falling back on the very easy to write CSA posts (sorry to all of those out there who have hit the unsubscribe button).Back to canning. You'll notice that in that long string of canned foods there are quite a bit of pears. That's because I take care of three Bartlett pear trees that produce a lot of fruit. Sort of.

For the past five or so years, the pears disappear almost over night (really it's in about a three week period) when they are a few weeks out from being ripe. It's a huge mystery as to where hundreds of unripe pears go, as they used to not disappear, but we think it's a combination of deer, squirrels, and racoons that have wizened up over the years.

This year, I decided to not let the critters win. I harvested the pears while they were still unripe. Unripe pears work very well in chutneys and relishes when they are cooked down, so I used them there. I then waited a bit longer for the pears to be only a week out from ripe, then stripped the remaining fruit before the critters could get to them. These almost ripe pears sat in my basement for a week until they were fully ripe.

All in all, I think I got about a fifth of the pears, and the critters got the rest. This is a victory!Caramelized Pear Butter
makes about 8 pints

I was intrigued by the use of caramelized sugar in this recipe for pear butter, and combined the caramelization technique with another recipe for pear butter.

1/4 cup apple juice
6 tablespoons lemon juice, divided
7 pounds pears, peeled, cored and chopped
3 cups, sugar
2 teaspoons nutmeg
3/4 teaspoons salt

• Combine apple juice and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice in a deep pot. Add peeled and chopped pears to the apple and lemon juice as they are chopped to avoid browning.
  
• Cook pears over medium heat until juices are released and can be brought to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until pears are very tender, about 20 minutes.
• Remove pot from heat and blend pears until smooth. I like to use a stick blender that you put directly into the pot, but a food processor, blender or food mill can be used, as well. Return the pear mixture back to the pot.
  
• In a skillet, heat the sugar, stirring frequently until it melts and turns an amber color. Being very careful, pour the caramelized sugar into the pear mixture. This will produce a lot of sizzling and splattering, so be sure you have the pear mixture in a tall pot. The caramelized sugar will harden immediately upon contact with the pear mixture, but will dissolve with stirring.
• Add nutmeg, salt, and remaining 3 tablespoons lemon to the pear mixture.
  
• Simmer on medium-low heat, stirring regularly to prevent burning until pear butter has thickened to the desired consistency. Cooking time will vary depending on juiciness of pears, the size of your pot, and if you halved or doubled the recipe.
  
• Turn off the heat, and fill sterile jars. Wipe rims and apply lids and bands. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Remove jars from water, and let cool on the counter for at least 2 hours. Check lids for a proper seal. Can be store for up to one year.
  

Pear butter before the addition of caramelized sugar.
Caramelized sugar.
Pear butter after the addition of caramelized sugar.

Hageland Pear & Almonds

Up until now, I've only tried Hageland's limited origin bars, but the last time I was in the candy aisle at Wal-Mart, the Pear & Almonds bar called out to me. Pear is one of those fruits that I love as a fruit but not as a flavoring, but based on my history with Hageland, I convinced myself that this time would be different.

According to the back of the box, the Hageland County in Belgium is famous for growing pears. The natural pear flavor joins almonds, 57% dark chocolate, and an unexpected emulsifier: soy lecithin (non-GMO, less than 0.5%). Right away, I noticed the bar was softer than other dark chocolate Hageland bars.


The bar smells of roasted almonds and bitter cocoa, but the first taste is all pear. It's so strong that it reminds me of banana, and that's not a good thing. Luckily, the pear taste fades very quickly, leaving behind only almond and dark chocolate. The chocolate is of the quality I've come to expect from Hageland, and the almond flavor has melded with the chocolate for a lovely mixture.

The snap of the chocolate must be affected by the other ingredients, as the bar was softer than expected. The slivered almonds and pear granules are so crunchy that it almost seemed like the nuts were candied. The texture was certainly pleasant and aside from the first hit of pear, the flavor was pretty good, but I much prefer Hageland's standalone bars. I think it all comes down to how you feel about pears in chocolate.

B-

Hageland Website

Godiva Spring Chocolates + 1 Summer Truffle

This free truffle every month at Godiva thing isn't working out too well for me. At the end of April, I went in with the intention of getting two truffles (one being the freebie), and I came out with six. They had an assortment of new spring chocolates, but instead of the round truffle, these were flattened chocolates stamped with a pretty floral pattern. Finally, because I can't resist mango anything, I also got a mango summer truffle for "free."

I forgot to write down the flavors when I was at the shop, but according to some post-tasting research on a non-Godiva website, they are mandarin orange, pina colada, black raspberry, green pear, and lemon chiffon. I'm not sure I agree, and I plan on double checking, but please correct me in the meantime. You can think of this as a blind taste test.


I'll start with some controversy. Supposedly, the piece with the green and white pattern was Green Pear, but when I tasted it, it felt very apple. It was delicious - my favorite of them bunch - as it had a nice, subtle cinnamon flavor and a lovely caramel texture. It tasted like a rich apple cider in a melty milk chocolate shell. A+

There was no mistaking Black Raspberry (purple flowers). It was full of seeds! So many seeds, actually, that it was distracting. The dark chocolate shell was nice, but the filling was just a bit weak and didn't have the bite I look for in a raspberry sweet. The plentiful seeds were too much for me, but they did convey the feeling of jam. C+

The only white chocolate piece in the bunch, Pina Colada didn't have much flavor at all. All I could taste was a sweet white chocolate at first, then hints of coconut milk and a tiny bit of citrus. It was so very mild, and was my least favorite. C-

I believe the orange and yellow chocolate was Mandarin Orange, but it could have passed for lemon. The milk chocolate was quite good, but despite a crisp citrus flavor, the center was just a bit too sweet. Still, it was probably my third favorite out of the five. B

The last of the spring chocolates was Lemon Chiffon, in yellow and white flowers (I think). I know I said the green one was my favorite, but I may have to reconsider, because this chocolate was amazing. The filling tasted just like fresh lemon pie filling. I could taste the lemon juice, and the zesty, tart filling was just perfect with the buttery chocolate shell. A+


Finally, here's the bonus summer truffle: Mango. The dark chocolate shell had a nice snap, leading to a citrusy mango filling with a surprisingly authentic flavor. It was sweet and delicious, and even had some of the smooth, thick texture of mango. A

There were some outstanding chocolates in this bunch, and though I'm not sure I needed all of them, even the not-so-stellar flavors were fun to try (especially since I was guessing at flavors).

Lotte European Pear Chocolate

It might not be as good as Belgian, but I love Japanese chocolate. Meiji is my favorite brand, but Lotte is pretty good, too. And after trying this particular Lotte bar, I like them even better. And I was wary of this one, because of a previous bad experience with pear-flavored chocolate (the taste lingered for hours and it was not a good one).

First of all, the Lotte packaging is gorgeous, elegant, and eye-catching. The chocolate itself is also lovely, a little bit brighter than the matcha green. There was a definite pear/fruity aroma, but not too powerful. The taste was even milder, only the end notes were pear. I can't say I minded, because stronger might have been gross, in the same way that my Pear Blossom Wallflower air "freshener" smelled rotten after an hour.

My favorite aspect by far was the texture - smooth chocolate with a grittiness that reminded me of pear skin and cookie dough at the same time, if you can imagine. Also, unlike the last pear flavored chocolate I tried, no terrible lingering aftertaste, just satisfaction.

B+

LOTTE Website (Japanese)

Cranberry, Pear, and Ginger Chutney

Yep, I’m still working on some of the recipes in this year’s Thanksgiving issue of Bon Appètit. I thought I’d hit up one of the four cranberry sauces in the magazine.

My traditional cranberry sauce is my absolute favorite, and I would not be without it. Really, it’s a relish, and it’s super easy. Grind up fresh cranberries and oranges (peel and all), mix with sugar and spices, and let sit overnight in the fridge. Easy.

For giggles, I decided to go with the cranberry sauce recipe – cranberry, pear, and ginger chutney – least like my traditional cranberry holiday staple. If you can tell anything from the four or five jars of chutney in my fridge, it’s that I love chutney. The strong, piquant flavors of chutneys have a hold on me, I’m afraid.

The flavors of Bon Appètit’s cranberry, pear, and ginger chutney are quite strong, so if you have any wimpy palettes at your table, you might want to skip this one. But brave soldiers will devour this chutney. That is, if you follow my suggested changes in the recipe.

The original recipe calls for ¼ cup of grated ginger, which seemed like too much, so I halved that amount right from the start.

The two cups of apple cider vinegar did not faze me when I read the printed recipe, as I can drink vinegar straight from the bottle. But after it was all said and done, I thought the chutney to be heavy on the vinegar. So did some other people who tested the recipe. I’d suggest, at minimum, halving the vinegar and replacing the other half with apple or orange juice. (Recipe below reflects suggestions.)

This brings us to the troubling question of whether or not magazines and cookbooks actually test their recipes. Personally, I think it’s a crock if a for-profit publication doesn’t test all of their recipes. I know some do and some don’t. Which one’s exactly, I’m not sure. I do know that Cook’s Illustrated bases it’s whole publication on the fact that they test, test, and retest their recipes until they get it right. And you know what; I’ve never made anything bad from them.

I’m not saying the chutney below is bad. The recipe just needed tweaking due to, perhaps, a typo or, at worst, an untested recipe. The cranberry, pear, and ginger chutney is lined-up in the fridge door with all of my other chutneys, and most likely will be enjoyed on a cracker with cheese.

Cranberry, Pear, and Ginger Chutney
Adapted from Bon Appètit
makes about 3 1/2 cups

1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup apple juice or orange juice
1 cup onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons ginger, grated
2 ½ teaspoons lemon peel, finely grated
2 ½ teaspoons orange peel, finely grated
1 cinnamon stick
½ teaspoon dried crushed red pepper (I used really hot homegrown and dried peppers, and enjoyed the heat)
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
12-ounce bag fresh cranberries
1 ¼ cups brown sugar, packed
2 large Bosc pears, peeled, cored, and cut into ¾-inch cubes

• Combine apple cider vinegar, apple juice, onion, ginger, lemon peel, orange peel, cinnamon stick, crushed red pepper, and ground cloves in saucepan. Boil mixture for about 10 minutes, or until reduced to 1 ½ cups.
• Add cranberries, brown sugar, and pears. Stir until sugar dissolves.
• Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until pears and cranberries are soft, about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
• Mash mixture coarsely, if at all, with a potato masher.
• Cool and serve at room temperature.
• Can be made 3 days ahead and stored in the fridge.

Pear-Caramel Ice Cream

It’s getting to be like the Iron Chef around here. ‘Cause you know, I’m constantly rushing around making six plates of bourgeois food with the help of my sous chef in under an hour. Yeah. What I am doing Iron Chef-like is throwing the secret ingredient into ice cream. Give me an ingredient, and I immediately think ice cream. Thankfully no one’s challenged me with eel or chicken feet.

My friend gave me the smallest, cutest, sweetest, most perfectly ripe pears from her pear trees, along with a jar of home made pear jam. I shamelessly tore into that jam, eating a quarter of the jar in two days. While doing so, I thought, “This jam would make a great ice cream topping…for pear ice cream.” I had to act fast. Those pears were about to melt and the jam was about to disappear.

I changed the original ice cream recipe to make it lower in fat; I substituted half of the heavy cream with half and half. The resulting ice cream is creamy, but not deadly. The best part about pear ice cream is the gritty texture. That is, if you like pear grit.

Pear-Caramel Ice Cream
Makes 1 quart
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Levovitz

3 medium ripe pears, peeled, cored, and diced into ¼ inch pieces
¾ cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1cup half and half
⅛ teaspoon coarse salt
a few drops of lemon juice

• Spread sugar in a large, nonreactive, heavy-bottomed pan. Cook the sugar over medium heat. Gently stir with a heat-proof spatula when the sugar begins to liquefy and darken at the edges.
  
• When the sugar is melted and turns deep amber, stir in the pear pieces. The caramel will seize and harden, but will melt. (This freaked me out and I thought it would never melt, but it did.) Cook the pears for 10 minutes.
• Remove from heat and stir in cream, half and half, salt, and lemon juice.
• Let cool to room temperature, then puree in a blender.
• Chill, then freeze in your ice cream maker.