Recipe: Spiced Ginger Pears, Spiced Pickled Pears, Spiced Pears in Cider for Alan.

Spiced Ginger Pears
You need:

4 nice pears
50 grams preserved ginger
Some cloves
1/4 cup water
2 tblsp caster sugar
2 tbslp red wine
Vine leaves

Cut pears in half and core them. Divide the ginger between the pears, and the cloves between the pears, usually 2 cloves to each pear. Put the pears back together, wrap in vine leaves, place in the oven at around 170 degrees for half an hour. Put the water, the wine, and the caster sugar in a pan, reduce to about half the liquid, and let go cold. When the pears are cold, pour the liquid over the top and serve with a dollop of cream.


Spiced Pickled Pears
Pears in a mild spicy pickle make a wonderfully new and different accompaniment to Christmas cold cuts or, if you warm them through slightly, they are magic with either a roast duck or a goose. They look very pretty and appealing, too, as they turn a lovely amber colour and make an excellent home-made Christmas gift. If you want to make more, simply double or treble the recipe and so on, remembering that 2 lb (1 kg) pears fills a 1 litre jar. Makes a 1 litre jar

2 lb (1 kg) Conference pears (pick out the hardest, smallest ones you can find)
12 oz (350 g) soft light brown sugar
10 fl oz (275 ml) white wine vinegar
10 fl oz (275 ml) cider vinegar
3 inch (7.5 cm) cinnamon stick, broken into 3 pieces
1/2 lemon, cut into thin slices
1/2 level teaspoon whole cloves
1 level teaspoon juniper berries
1 level dessertspoon mixed pepper berries
You will also need a 1 litre jar with a glass or plastic lid (vinegar corrodes metal).

Start off by putting all the ingredients except the pears in a large saucepan and place it on a low heat, allowing it to come slowly to the boil. Give everything a whisk round from time to time to dissolve the sugar crystals. While that's happening, peel the pears. They need to be pared very thinly (forgive the pun). This means using either a very sharp knife or, best of all, a really good potato peeler. Take off all the peel but leave the stalks and the base florets intact. As you peel each pear, plunge it into a bowl of cold water. Then, after peeling them, check that the sugar has completely dissolved into the vinegar, drain the pears and add them to the saucepan. Bring everything up to a gentle simmer and let the pears cook for about 20 minutes or until they look slightly transparent and feel tender when tested with a small skewer.

In the meantime, the jar should be washed thoroughly in warm, soapy water, rinsed, dried and heated in a moderate oven for 5 minutes. Then, using a draining spoon, transfer the pears and slices of lemon to the clean jar. Now boil the syrup furiously for about 5 minutes until it's reduced to about 15 fl oz (425 ml) and pour in enough to fill the jar right up to its neck and completely cover the pears. Then scoop out the spices and add them to the jar as well. Any leftover syrup can be discarded. Cover and seal the jar and, when the contents are completely cold, wipe and label it and store it in a cool dark place for about 1 month before using. The pears will keep well for 6 months.

Spiced Pears in Cider
Yield: 6 servings

6 lg Firm pears
1 pt Dry cider; strong
- or red wine
4 oz Sugar
1 Vanilla pod; split
2 Whole cinnamon sticks
1 ts Corn starch; or arrowroot
Flaked almonds; toasted
15 fl Double cream; whipped

Preheat the oven to 250 oF / 130 oC. Peel the pears neatly, leaving the stalks on, and stand them in a large casserole. In a saucepan bring the cider, sugar, split vanilla pod and cinnamon sticks to the boil. Pour this over the pears, cover the casserole and bake very slowly for about 3 hours, turning the pears half-way through the cooking time. When the pears are cooked, transfer them to a serving bowl and cool. Pour the liquid into a saucepan, discarding the vanilla pod and cinnamon sticks. Mix the arrowroot with a little cold water to a smooth paste, then add to the saucepan with the liquid. Bring to the boil, stirring till the mixture has thickened slightly to a syrup. Pour it over the pears, allow to cool a little, then baste each pear with a good coating of the syrup. Place in the refrigerator to chill thoroughly and serve sprinkled with toasted flaked almonds and whipped cream.