My husband was reading my blog Saturday night and he came across my post on Seckel Pears. Much to my surprise he proclaimed, “Seckel Pears…that is what my grandmother used to make!” She would make a syrup and can them and open a jar for special meals. My husband has very fond memories of this little treat. Of course, now I am wishing that I had his grandmother’s recipe so these little treats would live up to his childhood memories. But, that recipe is nowhere to be found. So, instead of competing with it, I am going to make a recipe that I think will be a little different. I am pretty sure you could poach the tires on my minivan in this syrup and they would taste like fall, so I am pretty confident the pears will soak it up and be delicious.
Ingredients:
14 Seckel Pears
1 cup of Brown Sugar
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 cup of White Sugar
2 cups of Water
1 whole Lemon, juiced
1 splash of vanilla
Instructions:
Combine all ingredients, except for the pears, in a deep pot on the stove and bring them to a simmer.
Allow to simmer for 10 minutes, or until the mixture reduces and becomes somewhat thickened. In the meantime, it is time to cut the pears in half.
There are many schools of thought here. Some leave them whole, some cut them in half, some seed them, some don’t. Well, being the strong decision maker that I am, I cut all of the pears and seeded exactly half of the them so I could see which I like better.
Add your pears to the simmering liquid and allow them to simmer for 10 minutes.
You want the pears to stay firm, but take in some of the liquid. Place your pears and liquid in a 1 quart mason jar. Allow to cool, and then refrigerate. I allowed ours to sit overnight in the syrup before serving.
They are delicious! You can taste the sweetness from the brown sugar, the spiciness from the cinnamon and a little hint of vanilla. In the future, I will likely remove the seeds, even though it didn’t make a huge difference.
These would be even better with vanilla ice cream or cinnamon whipped cream. Yum!
