It’s pear season here on the Gulf Coast. My parents have a sand pear tree at their house in Fort Walton Beach, Florida that produces about 8 billion pears every year – the bad part being they are all ripe within one week of each other.
Perhaps that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but that’s the way it always seems. We wait, and wait, and wait, then . . . it’s a stampede to eat them all before they go bad.
Sand pears are a little bit different from other varieties. Click HERE to read more about them and to see what I did with last year’s crop.
This year, I decided to try a new recipe with pears. It’s an old North Florida recipe for chutney I’ve adjusted a bit over the years to fit our family’s tastes which run on the spicier side. This year, I had a few jalapeño peppers laying around that I had grown in my garden, so I chopped one up and threw it in, and it turned out to give it the perfect kick – along with the red pepper!
Served over locally made goat cheese with crackers and pecan shortbread, it was tangy, sweet and delicious.
Gulf Coast Sand Pear Chutney
2lbs. sand pears, chopped
2 medium peaches, chopped
2 cups grape tomatoes, quartered
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
1 Tablespoon coarse salt
½ – 1 finely chopped jalapeño pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 ½ cup apple cider
Combine all ingredients into a heavy pot. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer, and continue cooking for an hour, making sure to stir frequently until mixture becomes thickened.
The second recipe I’ve found for pears is something I’ve made before from the Junior League of Cobb-Marietta cookbook and it’s always a hit with company. If you use sand pears, they have to be fresh off the tree so they won’t fall apart since sand pears already have a high water content.
This version of poached pears comes from Real Simple Recipes .
Ingredients
- 1/2Â bottle (1 1/2 cups) red wine
- 1Â lemon
- 1Â navel orange, quartered
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2Â vanilla bean, split, or 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1Â cinnamon stick
- 5Â cloves
- 4Â small ripe pears (any variety), peeled
Directions
- In a small saucepan, off the heat, combine the wine, the juice from the lemon and orange, 1 of the squeezed orange quarters, the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon stick, and cloves.
- Add the pears and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, turning the pears occasionally, until they’re easily pierced with the tip of a knife, about 25 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the pears to individual plates.
- Remove and discard the orange quarter and spices. Return the liquid to a simmer and cook until syrupy and reduced by two-thirds, about 15 minutes, depending on size of pan. Spoon the sauce over the pears.
And now run pick those pears before the birds get them!
Sharing with: Southern Hospitality, Coastal Charm, Savvy Southern Style, The Pin Junkie
The photo of a poached pear makes me want to go pear hunting. This looks delicious! I’ll be happy to help you out by taking two or three of your 8 billion!
8 billion huh? That must be some tree!! I love pears and your spicy sweet chutney sounds wonderful!
It’s true! Maybe even 8 billion and two!
I love Asian (aka Sand) pears. I generally don’t love cooked pear dishes but these look so delicious you may have made a convert out of me!
My Hungarian Grandmother made a pear brandy from three varieties of pears. But mostly from what she called sugar pears. We would gather hundreds of pears off the ground each afternoon, brushing away the ants. She would toss in a bunch of elderberries for color. Around Christmas we all would get taste. Much of it ended up poured on Christmas cakes. She never lit it, but it would be worth a try.
Pears and elderberries are things that grow here on the Gulf Coast, so perhaps we should try our hand at brandy!
Pretty pictures. My mama makes pear pies that are a big hit.
Pear pies and tarts are so good, and just a little different than apple. Hope you get some of her pies this year!
I’m going to go check my mom’s backyard here in FWB to see if she’s got any Sand Pears! That chutney looks great!
These recipes both look delicious. I am not sure where to get Sand Pears. Will other pears from the grocery work just as well?
The chutney in particular is something I would like to try.
I think sand pears are so soft, that if you substituted another type of pear, I would try to add a little more liquid to the mix. I think it should still work okay with that adjustment.
Beautiful photography as usual and delicious recipes.
A delicious blog! Now I just need to find some pears.
I’m sure someone you know has some!