How to make the most of your pears
DID YOU KNOW?
Pears are mild, sweet fruit with a fibrous center. They are rich in essential antioxidants, plant compounds, and dietary fiber. Their skin provides about half of the pear's total dietary fiber, as well as its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory phytonutrients; another good reason not to peel the fruit but eat the entire pear.
STORE THEM BY:
Leave unripe pears at room temperature in order to induce ripening. But beware that pears ripen from the inside out so by the time they are soft on the outside, the inside flesh may be overripe. Ripe pears should be stored in the fridge. To speed up the ripening process, place pears in a brown paper bag. your unripened plums at room temperature to ripen. Once ripe, keep your plums in the fridge for up to 3 days.
PREPARE THEM BY:
To use the whole pears in recipes, leave the stem on, then use a vegetable peeler to peel down along their length. If you want to cut the pears into chunks, slice into quarters and cut out the core.
5 YUMMY RECIPE IDEAS
- PANCAKES: Cut 1 pear with the skin on in small cubes. Make a pancake batter from 150g self raising flour, 1tsp chia seeds, 1tsp baking powder, 190ml plant based milk, 20g porridge oats, 15ml olive oil and 1tbsp honey. Mix in the cubed pear. Heat up 1 tsp of coconut oil in a frying pan. Spoon over the pancake batter and cook for 3 minutes on each side. Repeat until all your pancakes are cooked.
- POACHED: Poach the whole peeled pears in a hot syrup made from water, sugar, and vanilla. Set aside until the pears are soft and the syrup has cooled slightly.
- CRUMBLE: Chop the pears into 2cm chunks. In a bowl mix the chopped pears with cinnamon and vanilla. Transfer into a baking dish and cover with a crumble made from butter, flour, sugar, ground almond and sea salt. Bake at 180C, for 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden and bubbling. Delicious served with yoghurt, custard or ice cream.
- STUFFED: To stuff a pear before cooking it, you should leave the skin on. Just cut in half lengthways, then scoop out the core with a teaspoon. Stuff the pears with nuts, drizzle with maple syrup and bake until warm and juicy.
- FLAN: Peel and cut in half the pears. Place them into a greased baking dish and cover with flaked almonds, and a flan batter made from eggs, sugar, vanilla and milk. Bake at 150C, until the flan is golden.
