Pears are a favorite fruit at our home. We like the Red Anjou Pear used in salads or fresh slices, though rarely cook with them. Cinnamon spiced apple sauce is a favorite too, so decided why not make Spicy Red Anjou Pear Sauce. I have several old cookbooks, 1940s, and 50s, they did not have recipes for pear sauce. There was pear jam, preserves, jelly or pears mixed with other fruits for chutneys. So, I made the pear sauce as I do spicy apple sauce.
How-to for making Spicy Red Anjou Pear Sauce
The Anjou pears are sweet and juicy as well nutritious. One fresh medium size pear has 100 calories. They are fat-free, cholesterol-free and sodium-free and provides soluble fiber. Pears are an excellent source of vitamin C and potassium.
These pears were from the local grocery, I don’t know where they are grown locally. Wash them good to get any pesticides off the peel even before peeling them.
After peeling each, I put them in a pan of water with a tablespoon of lemon juice to prevent the pears browning. I find it easiest to use the vegetable peeler. When all peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces before cooking.
While placing them in the sauce pan, water and seasons, a picture was forgotten. I added enough water to cover and added another tablespoon of lemon juice to the water, again to prevent the browning, also adds a little extra flavor. Recently made another 2 pints of the Spicy Red Anjou Pear Sauce and added about 2 tablespoons of orange juice when cooking.
After the pears were boiling for about 5 minutes, I added the ground cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. They were on the hard side, needed to ripen a little more, so I simmered them about 30 minutes or more until tender and softened. Cooking will vary to the ripeness and your preference.
When they were cooked tender, I added a teaspoon of vanilla. They were cooked more than in the above photo. While still hot, put 1/2 to 1 cup pears in the blender to puree. I pureed them more than I had preferred for this first time. Having some lumps of pear in the sauce is more to my liking. Again that is your preference.
Spicy Red Anjou Pear Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 Red Anjou pears
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups water to cover pears again more or less to your preference
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/8 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg or ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Wash and peel pears.
- Core and cut into 1/2 inch pieces into a pan of water with 1 tablespoon lemon juice.
- Drain the pears and put into 4 quart sauce pan.
- Add water to cover pears, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
- Add the sugars and salt.
- Cook to boiling for 5 minutes.
- Add the cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg.
- Cook for 30 minutes, longer if preferred for a softer pear.
- Remove from heat; add the vanilla.
- Puree in small batches 1/2 cup to 1 cup of to the thickness preferred.</span>
- Pour into bowl to store or pour into clean sterile pint jars.
- Refrigerate until use.
Notes
The 4 pears actually made about 2 1/2 pints or 5 cups of sauce. The sauce had to be sampled to see if it was sweet, spicy, good and edible. It was! The jars were refrigerated until used. The sauce did not last long, it was more pears and another batch of Spicy Red Anjou Pear Sauce.
Consider these dishes for the menu:
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– 2 tablespoons lemon juice
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