Fresh Pear Syrup
Ripe Bartlett or Anjou pears work best. The fruit should give slightly when pressed and smell fragrant.
Ripe Bartlett or Anjou pears work best. The fruit should give slightly when pressed and smell fragrant.
- 2 cupsripe pears(peeled cored and chopped)
- 1 cupwater
- 1 cupwhite sugar
- 1Strain through a fine mesh strainer pressing well.
- 2Bottle and refrigerate.
- 3Use within two weeks.
Store in a sealed glass bottle in the refrigerator for up to three weeks. Keep refrigerated.
Bartlett (Williams) pears produce the most aromatic, recognizably "pear"-flavored syrup; Anjou produces a milder, more delicate result; Bosc produces a drier, slightly spiced syrup. Ripe but not overripe pears are critical — overripe pears produce a fermented, alcoholic-adjacent flavor. Leave the skins on during cooking; the skin contains significant flavor and color compounds that enrich the syrup. Add a few drops of lemon juice to prevent browning both during preparation and in the finished syrup. For a more concentrated pear flavor, reduce the water to three-quarters of a cup.
The pear (Pyrus communis) has been cultivated in Europe and Asia for at least three thousand years, with cultivation documented in ancient Chinese texts and in Homer's Odyssey (c. 800 BCE), which calls pears "gifts of the gods." The Romans cultivated numerous named pear varieties and spread pear orchards throughout the Roman Empire. Perry — a fermented pear cider made in the UK and France for over one thousand years — represents the oldest tradition of pear as a drink ingredient. In the cocktail world, pear's delicate, floral sweetness proved particularly compatible with gin, Champagne, and aromatic spirits, and pear appears in both the Elderflower and Pear Smash family of cocktails that became popular in the late 2000s. Pear syrup made from ripe Bartlett or Anjou pears captures the fruit's subtle, honey-floral character that commercial pear juice, typically made from concentrate, cannot replicate.
A pear-vanilla syrup adds one split vanilla bean during simmering, producing a soft, honey-like sweetener that is an excellent modifier for Cognac and aged rum cocktails. A pear-black pepper syrup, made by steeping one teaspoon of coarsely cracked black pepper in the finished warm syrup for five minutes, creates an unexpected but elegant combination used in gin and sparkling wine cocktails. For a pear-cardamom syrup drawing on South Asian culinary traditions, add four cracked green cardamom pods during simmering.
No common top-eight allergens. Naturally vegan and gluten-free. Pear is associated with birch oral allergy syndrome — those sensitive to birch pollen may experience mild reactions to concentrated pear preparations.