‘Tis the season for pears, and Jessica from GoodCheapEats and Life as MOM is here to give you a few great ideas of what to make with them.
I’m taking some time this week to get caught up on work, get my manuscript off to my editor and whatnot. If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know that Kjell was referred to Mayo Clinic, and we’ll be headed there next month. Thanks so much for all your kind thoughts and prayers. Jessica graciously offered to step in while I get caught up, and I will have a fun giveaway for you later and a recipe to go with it, so stay tuned!
Pears were not a fruit I knew well as a child. In fact, canned pears were the only ones to appear on our family table. It wasn’t until I lived a year in France when “my French mom” interrogated me as to why I wouldn’t eat them.
They’re mushy and mealy.
I no longer remember how to say that en francais, but she got my point — and proceeded to peel a yellow pear she had sitting in a bowl on the table. What she handed me in no way resembled the pears of my youth. Oh my.
It’s almost a Proustian moment, when I think about it. Sweet, juicy, and not at all mealy. Delicious!
From then on, I realized the beauty of the pear. And since it is one fruit that is extremely affordable during the fall and winter months, it’s one I serve often at my table. Pears are an every day kind of food for my children.
One of the tricks I learned along the way was to buy them green. Let them ripen on the counter, and you won’t have the overripe, bruised fruit you may have encountered in the past.
Recently, I ordered an extra ten pounds of Clear Lake pears from our organic produce co-op. They were fantastic. We ate many fresh. We baked and devoured cakes and muffins. I made pear sauce in the crockpot. And we even tried Shaina’s fruit leather trick with the leftover sauce. My children thought I was a genius and cried when “the candy” was all gone.
Got a windfall of Fall or Winter pears? Enjoy one of these delicious ways with pears:
::Maple Vanilla Roasted Pear Parfaits | Simple Bites
::Vanilla Spice Pear Butter | goodLife {eats}
::Spiced Pear Cake | Life as MOM
:: Reisling Poached Pear Tart | Roost Blog
::Spiced Pear Sour Cream Bundt Cake | 5 Dollar Dinners
::Crock Pot Ginger Pearsauce | Cookin’ Canuck
::Apple Pear Sauce with Caramel Cider Vinaigrette | Food + Words
::Brie and Pear Tart | A Spicy Perspective
Pears are such a luscious and versatile fruit, you really can’t go wrong.
 |
A foodie at heart, Jessica Fisher has learned to reconcile a tight budget with her love for great food. As a busy mom of six voracious eaters, she regularly shares healthy, delicious and budget-friendly recipes at GoodCheapEats. She also writes at her parenting blog, LifeasMOM. Her first book is due out Fall 2012 from Harvard Common Press. |
I adore pears. I think they’re my favorite fruit, and my favorite fruit to turn into fruit butter for sure. Thanks for all the fantastic ideas!
mmm, I love pears. All these recipes look great!
As much as I enjoy eating pears, I’ve never cooked with them!! Thanks for all the great ideas!!
I can’t believe I haven’t posted a single pear recipe on my blog, ever. I love pears… they are probably my favorite fruit, but I don’t do more than just eat them! Great post!
I bought ten pounds of them and they all ripened while we were on vacation (despite refrigeration), so I had to work quickly! LOL
I’ve been eating local pears for about a month – I get them at the St Paul Farmer’s Market downtown – Saturday only – They should be available for another week or so. So I am enjoying lovely pears and feeling virtuous for eating local.
I adore the farmers market…in case you haven’t noticed. My in-laws have pear trees. Those are my favorite. Bonus points if I get to walk up and twist them off the tree myself. 🙂
I’ve been loving Bosc pears lately, but I love them all either for eating out of hand or baking.
Pears are one of my favorite fruits. I love this time of the year because they taste that much better. Cooking with them brings out the sweetness even more so than apples, I think. Sometime this year Dorie of French Fridays with Dorie had us make an Apple Cake. I didn’t have apples at the time but had just received lots of pears from Harry & Davids as a gift. I used those in that recipe and it was outstanding!!! I love pears, raw or cooked. Great ideas, thanks for sharing.
Love them in cake!
We have two pear trees growing in our yard. They should have fruit this coming year. It’s great to have some tried and tested recipes to try. Thanks for a great site.
Pears are such a delicious fruit…I can’t believe I haven’t bought any, yet, this year! Off to the market to remedy that. I’m going to try that Pear Sauce in the crockpot, for sure. I’ve got lots of Honeycrisp apples, too, so am thinking that recipe would work for them, too. Wonderful post…thanks!
This is great. I just received a ton of pears from some guests and I don’t think we can eat them all before they start turning to mush. I will have to try some of these fantastic recipes.