Mulled Pears and Waste Hack Pear Core Syrup

Add a little indulgence to your everyday meals with these warmly spiced Mulled Pears, bottled in rich red wine. They'll be perfect on your cheeseboard or thinly sliced through a wintery salad. Plus we've got a pear-fect dessert syrup recipe that gets the most out of those sweetly perfumed, pear-y flavoured cores.

Makes 4-5 x 500ml jars

Ingredients:

  • 10 firm pears
  • 500ml red wine
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 500ml water
  • 2 tablespoon spices of your choice – clove, cinnamon, star anise, peppercorns, allspice, vanilla, allspice, cardamom, bay leaves, orange peel, slices of fresh ginger 

Method:

Make your syrup by putting wine, water, sugar and spices in a medium pan over low heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a simmer and then turn off the heat and let the flavours develop.

Prepare the pears by halving or quartering, leaving the skin on but cutting out the cores. Set cores aside for waste hack recipe below.

Sterilise jars following the instructions here.

Using tongs divide the spices evenly among the jars, adding more if needed. Make sure each jar has a little of all the flavours. Pack pears carefully but firmly into the jars and pour the hot syrup over the pears, making sure they are completely submerged under the liquid.

Remove air bubbles with a knife or chopstick. Wipe rim of jar with a clean cloth and seal. Heat process for 15 minutes, following the instructions here.

Store in a cool dark place for up to 2 years. Allow to sit for at least a week or two before eating!

 

Pear Core and Rosemary Dessert Syrup

Don’t throw your pear cores away! they are full of sweet perfumed peary flavour. After a batch of Pear Chutney or Mulled Pears we save the cores to make this delicious zingy dessert syrup. Pour it over cakes, crepes and waffles. Drizzle over fruit before baking, use in a cocktail or even as a marinade for sticky ribs!

This recipe also works with apple cores, mandarin skins, mango pips or pineapple skins and cores.

 

Method

In a saucepan put 1 L water and 2 cups of castor sugar. Add in the pear cores, (approx, 2 cups) a tablespoon of allspice (or any other warm spices you have - 3 cinnamon sticks, star anise, clove, pepper or 4-5 slices of fresh ginger)

Add in the juice and peel of 1 lemon and all the pear cores. Put over low heat to dissolve the sugar and then simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the flavours infuse for an hour.

Strain and return the syrup to the pan. Simmer for 15 – 30 minutes until thickened, glossy and amber.

Put a sprig of rosemary into clean jars or bottles, cover with the hot syrup and seal. Allow to sit for a day or two and then transfer to the fridge. Lasts many many months, if not years, in the fridge.