How To Poach Pears
Welcome to my “How To Poach Pears” guide!! 🙂 I’m confident you’ll walk away from this guide with all the tips & tricks you need to make the best poached pears you’ve ever had!
What Is Poaching?
Let’s start with the basics! Poaching is an extremely gentle cooking method used for delicate foods (like fruit, veggies, fish, chicken, or eggs!), it preserves flavors and it’s also used to *add* extra flavor to foods. You can poach foods in spiced water, wine, broth, or milk.
Poaching uses a very gentle heat at 16oF – 180F (for reference, simmering happens at 185F – 200F), and it doesn’t require stirring, so you can simply sit back and relax during this process!
How Ripe Should Pears Be For Poaching?
Ripe but slightly firm! If they’re overripe they will turn mushy *and* if they’re underripe, they won’t poach well and the texture will be off! The best pears for poaching would be Bosc or Anjou pears but I have successfully used Williams pears too :).
How Do You Keep Poached Pears From Turning Brown?
Pour some freshly squeezed lemon juice over your peeled pears. This will keep them from oxidizing (aka turning brown).
During poaching, make sure they’re covered completely by the liquid. You can use a piece of parchment paper cut to fit the inside dimension of your saucepan to keep the pears submerged into the poaching liquid!
How Long Do Poached Pears Last In The Fridge?
You can store them covered in their liquid in the refrigerator for 10 days. However, if you want to use your poached pears to make a poached pear cake, I wouldn’t store them for longer than 3-4 days.
Poached pears stored in their poaching liquid will keep absorbing the liquid & spices so the flavor will intensify over time.
Can You Reheat Poached Pears?
Yes! Simply remove the pears from their poaching liquid, place the poaching liquid over medium heat. Once the liquid is hot, turn off the heat and add in the pears. Let them sit in the liquid until fully heated through.
What Do You Eat With Poached Pears?
Ice cream! Greek yogurt, creme fraiche, or mascarpone mixed with vanilla extract. Caramel sauce, melted chocolate or ganache.
Or serve them with these molten Chocolate Lava Cakes for an extra rich + cozy dessert!
What Can I Do With Poached Pears?
You can use poached pears to make cakes or cupcakes!
What Can I Do With Leftover Pear Poaching Liquid?
Remove the pears from the liquid and boil the leftover liquid until it reduces to a sticky syrup, pour it over your poached pears or use it as a topping for ice cream or yogurt!
You can also use the leftover poaching liquid to make fall drinks (like Pear Moscow Mule) or pear flavored jellies!
OH! YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE MY:
How To Poach Pears
Ingredients
- 3 medium ripe pears peeled with stems left on
- 4 cups water
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 3/4 tsp clear vanilla extract
- 1-2 cinnamon sticks
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the pears, water, sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Let the mixture come to a boil, then reduce the heat to poaching temperature (160F - 180F). If you don't own a kitchen thermometer, poaching happens when there are gentle waves on the surface of the water and small bubbles at the bottom of the saucepan (bubbles shouldn't rise to the surface).
- Poach for 25-30 minutes or until pears are fork-tender. You can use a piece of parchment paper cut to fit the inside dimension of your saucepan to keep the pears submerged into the poaching liquid.
- Allow the pears to cool slightly in their liquid and serve. If you want to use the pears for a cake, remove them from the liquid, place them onto a clean plate and allow them to cool down completely before adding them to your cake batter.
Notes
📷 DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?! Tag @damnspicy on Instagram!
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