Grow Your Own Magazine

There is a pear tree in the hedgerow near to me which has a good crop of pears every year.
The only trouble is they are very small...average golf ball size..as far as I know they never soften....skin is quite bitter.
I've tried peeling them and although they have a hint of pear in the taste they are not really palatable.
There are so many each year and I had toyed with making wine from them but don't want to waste the time & ingredients if it doesn't work. Must admit I'm slightly worried about poisoning myself as well!
Just seems a shame to waste such a free and easily gathered harvest.
There are usually windfalls and loads on the tree...any ideas?

I posted a recipe from delia for pickled pears on another thread. That might work. If you can't find it, I'll put it on again. But I think it was in the food section of In the Kitchen.

Thanks blackkitty...still a bit dubious about them though

make some perry, like cider but with pears, never heard of pears that small, has the tree bark been damaged? dont know how it would turn out with pears that unripe, proberbly need to add more sugar.
let me know if you want the recipe.
think you'll be o.k. as far as poison goes, would think you might get a pain in your tum if you ate lots of raw ones, but because they ars bitter not poisoned.

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Yo an' Bob
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take only what you need
give all you can
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This is an o-o-o-old tree much older than I am and I am in my fifties!

It was probably part of the hedge at one time and the hedge is a listed hedge ie has been there for donkeys years...some of the hawthorns are over a foot thick at the bottom!

I think its probably the equivalent of a crab apple...a crab pear maybe Lol

You could throw them at people you don't like.

How about using them on your Compost Heap if you cant use them for anything edible?

Might be quinces! In which case I'm envious. Even if not you can make jam/jelly with them mixed with apple or other fruit. Also adding peeled , grated fresh ginger makes a delicious preserve. Then there's pear chutney.......

I'm sure i posted this before but there are just pears which are inedible no matter what you do with them. My late father in law ( I miss him and all his wiwe and gentle ways ) had a tree which produced tons of pears, but they were no use raw, cooked, fermented, pickled or any other way. The glory of the tree was the blossom. The rest went to feed the birds through the winter - in his garden and ours and to anybody else who was interested in feeding birds. The rest just had to be disposed of.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there pickledtink! I've just googled quince and I think thats what they are! Reputably no further up the country than Yorkshire though! Thats probably why they are so small. Definately an old hedge they are in and could possibly date back to medievil times.?

Oooh. They make the most fantastic tart jelly. I purloined ( er that is rescued) some from Rudyard Kiplings Orchard recently. Windfalls but I'll mix them with apple and make quince jelly.

Managed to take a few photographs today...not very good I'm afraid but they may give you an idea of what I am on about!

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if they are what you think they are, why not "perloin" a few and make a jam/tart/whatever Snadger? DDL

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Perloin a few? I can have the whole tree's worth if I want them.!

I dont fancy either trying to peel them or coring them to be honest! If I could just mash them up and make something with them I would give it a go, but I just don't know? Pear/Quince wine or cordial perhaps? They are gritty when you eat them so I don't think they would make jam, but possibly jelly! By the time I peeled them and cored them there would be nothing left!

Quince cheese (membrillo) apparently makes fabulous ice cream according to Tamasin Day Lewis - one of my fav cooks - and goes for a meagre £5 per small box at Sainsbury's

recipe I googled for:

3 pounds quince, peeled, cored and quartered (peels and cores reserved)
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup water

Wrap quince peels and cores in cheesecloth and tie to secure well. In a saucepan combine bundle of peels along with quinces, sugar and water and cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook until quinces are very soft, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove from heat.
Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Discard cheesecloth bundle and transfer cooked quinces to the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Transfer mixture to a small baking dish or loaf pan and dry paste in the oven for 15 hours. (This drying procedure can be spread over several days.)

also they can be roasted and are good with game -

Four people

Ingredients
700 g/ 1 ½ lb quartered quinces
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon honey or jelly (see text)
salt and pepper
180º C, 350º F, gas mark 4

On a nice oven to table dish put one layer of fresh or frozen quince sections, dot with butter and honey. I sometimes use quince jelly instead of honey, whatever you do I find that they need some sweetening, even for a savoury dish, to counteract their sharpness. Season with salt and pepper. Put in a hot oven until they are nicely coloured, it will take about half an hour if you used fresh quinces or longer if they were strait out of the freezer.

Excellent with roasted pheasant, chicken, etc.

I have attached a pic I found that shows them quite clearly...

A

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