Pickled Pears & Tradition

No, not the latest Alexander McCall Smith, just some musings inspired by October foraging.

I don’t think of myself as much of a traditionalist. But preparing to share this recipe caused me to realize that however uninterested I am in doing things for the sake of custom, I do in fact like creating my own traditions.

Some of my traditions have faltered during the pandemic. Like gathering annually in July to watch the Wimbledon men’s final - including a curry lunch, strawberries and cream, Pimm’s, etc. We’ve been doing this for years, but sadly our Wimbledon friends are in vulnerable health so it hasn’t been possible in 2020 or 2021. Hopefully next year we’ll be back up and going.

Our annual book club beach picnic/barbeque, also a fixture for a number of years where we book club women and our families gather to celebrate a summer read and a lot of great food, did not happen in 2020. In 2021 only a few of us managed to get together - we enjoyed ourselves, but it was a skeleton crew compared to our normal festivities.

Picking and pickling pears is a baby tradition, begun in 2020 as other traditions struggled. A friend has a pear tree which we’ve claimed, growing on wild land opposite her house. She’d lived there a few years and noticed the pears were going to waste. That was too much for me so I encouraged her to step in as no one else seemed to be. It was all very impromptu and we used a walking stick to bend down some higher branches to enable us to reach fruit. My friend is a crumble fiend but I love fruit in jars so used some of our foraging to make pickled pears, which were delicious.

This year, we looked at the tree with proprietorial rather than opportunistic eyes. My friend and her husband did some tree husbandry, trimming the blackberry brambles away. By the time October rolled around they’d grown back fairly vigorously, but we were a little more prepared/determined this time and came equipped with ladder and secateurs. A gloriously warm sunny Sunday afternoon saw us crossing over to the wasteland. My friend’s cat came to satisfy her curiosity and soon disappeared into the undergrowth.

We picked our way through the branches, braving large spiders, and emerged with bits of branch and leaf in our hair and with a large amount of pears - nothing left within reasonable reach. Some were a two-person effort as one held the ladder or pushed down a branch for the other to reach the fruit. We felt fairly pleased with ourselves and separated the pears for use in our respective kitchens.

Now, why bother when you could just buy pears? Well, there’s such a joy in harvesting, a thrill in foraging, fun in joint effort. And satisfaction - a new tradition for October - the pear picking and pickling time.

I have doubled and adjusted the original recipe. Better to make more pears than you can fit in the jars - just store any extra in the fridge and use within the week.

500 ml white wine vinegar
500 ml cider vinegar
600g sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
2 star anise
6-9 unripe pears, depending on size, peeled

Put the vinegars, sugar, and spices in a large saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Add the peeled pears and simmer gently for 45 minutes, turning occasionally. (Warning - your house will smell strongly of vinegar!) Store in sterilised jars with the pickling juice and spices.

The original recipe is taken from “Do-Ahead Dinners” by James Ramsden. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18395560-do-ahead-dinner where it is part of a starter, along with burnt chicory, gorgonzola and caramelized walnuts. I have now made this in full and can thoroughly recommend it - the textures and flavours contrast and combine brilliantly. And therefore I have now made more jars of pears - three times the original quantities, 1000 ml of white wine vinegar and 500 ml of apple cider. Once you’re making this you may as well size up!!

I would also like to try this with parma ham or smoky bacon. The syrup is excellent over vanilla ice cream.

Do you create your own traditions?