According Fruit Grower's Victoria Chairman, Andrew Plunkett, it’s pear time. While we may be inundated with stone fruit and the bounty of late summer, early varieties of pears are at their best now and in the next few weeks.
The season starts with Williams pears, famous for turning green to a pale gold, and continues with another seven varieties until November. Pears have a short shelf life – and can go very soft very quickly. There is a reason pears are often presented wrapped in tissue paper – if you are loading pears into a bag to take home, take the tissue wrapping with you to avoid skin bruising or blemishes. Look for pears that yield slightly when you squeeze their necks – this is a pear that is perfect to take home.
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Pears with their delicate flavour lend themselves so well to both sweet and savoury options. Pears go with strong flavoured cheeses such as stilton, cheddar, parmesan and camembert, dark chocolate, Riesling, dessert wine or poached in a sweetened red wine, nuts such as macadamias, hazelnuts and almonds, cardamom, cinnamon, rosewater or star anise, Poire William, brandy, Marsala, berries, crèmes patisserie and anglaise, crème frâiche, pork and chicken.
With their high fibre content and low GI value they are an integral part of any healthy diet, and can be a sensational finish to any autumn or winter meal. At this time of year, while the weather is still warm, I prefer the gorgeous marriage of pears with lime. My son The Apprentice Chef works poached pears with a lime bavarois and tuile biscuit cigars – you can make an old fashioned pear charlotte with delicately perfumed poached pear slices lining dariole moulds encasing the bavarois, or you can deconstruct it and serve the pears as a sorbet, with the lime bavarois and ginger-spiked wafers.
No wonder it’s a perennial favourite beloved of foodies everywhere.