Vanilla Honey Poached Pears

Whether you order 20 pounds of organic pears at one time or buy a bag from the local grocery store, now certainly seems the time to indulge in pears. In the last month I've seen D'anjou, Bartletts, Red Bartletts and Comice pears for sale, yes it is the time for pears. I personally happen to have a 20 pound box of organic pears from Azure in my pantry, we are chugging through them, they may be the last for the season, we'll see. And since they may be the last for the season, I don't want to let them go to waste, I also have to balance that with not burning my kids out on pears. Poaching the pears took them from a fruit to snack on to a dessert that will leave them begging for more. Heh, score one for mom.

Vanilla Honey Poached Pears 

4 cups water
1/2 cup of honey, more if you need them sweeter
1 vanilla bean
4 firm ripe pears, I used D'Anjou

in a small deep sauce pan bring the water and honey to a very low boil reduce heat and let simmer split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the liquid, toss in the bean too
wash and dry the pears
scoop out the blossom end with a spoon
add the pears to the pan
simmer 10 minutes or until the pears are soft but not mushy
remove from syrup and set aside
serve warm or chilled
the syrup can then be boiled until reduced by about half and drizzled over the pears before serving

I felt like throwing away the luscious leftover vanilla honey flavored syrup was wrong and a total waste. So we decided that ours would be poured into some vodka for a vanilla honey cordial. It should ready just in time for Christmas. Waste not, want not, right?




Peace and Love--