Week of October 17, 2021

Pears are always harvested before they are ripe, which allowed all the Anjou, Red Anjou, Chinese, and Bartlett pears to be picked, along with many Bosc pears, and transported by car or airplane luggage to our Florida home. The soft Bartlett pears were ripened in brown bags in the next week or so, but large numbers of Anjou and Bosc pears remained in our second refrigerator for ripening over the next months. One enjoyable way to use these hard pears is to nicely preserve them as POACHED PEARS. Many recipes can be found for poached pears, including those using Moscat or Beaujolais wines as the “soup” in which the poaching occurs. For this initial experiment, we poached Bosc pears after peeling, coring, and quartering them. They were then placed in sugar-water, along with a cinnamon stick, three star anise, a sliced-up Key lime from our backyard, a vanilla bean, some orange blossom honey, and a fresh ginger root from our kitchen ginger patch. A piece of parchment paper was cut to cover the pears while poaching, to prevent browning. The poaching required 20 minutes or so until the pears were easily sliced by a knife. The pears were then removed to a bowl and the poaching water allowed to boil down 50% to create the sauce. Added to the sauce was a half cup of sour dried cherries, to plump up. This sauce was poured over the pears, cooled, and served with a scoop of frozen yogurt. Both the pears and the sauce were a delicious desert for most of a week. We look forward to a month or two of enjoyment of poached Anjou or Bosc pears, as a reminder of our bountiful harvest.