#Pear Harvest

[askwhatsforlunch]

Pears in Whisky Syrup

When you come home from a holiday, even a short one, to find a glut of beautiful Williams pears scattering the Kitchen Garden where they have fallen, there is no time to waste to make a delicious recipe with them! These Pears in Whisky Syrup are a delicious way to preserve the bounty, which you will brighten a cold Winter day with a taste of sunshine and the delightful smokiness of peated Whisky! Happy Monday!

Ingredients (makes 2 jars; 1 large, 1 medium):

1 3/4 cup caster sugar

 3/4 cup demerara sugar

3 plump vanilla beans, split lengthwise

1 1/2 litre/6 cups water

about 30 just ripe Williams Pears

1/2 cup 10 Years Peated Bowmore Single Malt Whisky

In a large pot of boiling water, boil a 1/-litre/1-quart jar and a 1 1/2-litre/1-½-quart jar, 10 minutes, to sterelise them.

Pour caster sugar and demerara sugar in a large pot. Scrape seeds off the vanilla beans, and add both seeds and pods to the pot. Stir in water, and heat over medium-high heat, stirring often until sugar is completely dissolved. Once it is, increase heat to high, and boil rapidly, about 5 minutes, stirring often.

Meanwhile, halve, peel and core Williams pears. Reduce heat to medium-low and gently add pear halves into the syrup. Cover with the lid, and cook, for about 15 to 20 minutes, until just tender.

Stir in Whisky, and remove from the heat.

Remove jars from the boiling water carefully, and dry.

Carefully spoon pears and their Whisky syrup into sterelised jars, discarding vanilla pods, avoiding any drizzling on the side or rim. Once filled, close tightly and return to the boiling water bath, 20 minutes. Carefully remove from heat and let cool completely.

Once opened, you can keep  Pears in Whisky Syrup 3 weeks to a month in the refrigerator. Serve them warm or cold with yogurt, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream or Whisky Ice Cream…

[halcyonem]

[seasonalwonderment]

~ Red Pears ~

[microgeneration]

[chalkscrub]

babygirl doodles from a little while ago

[katiajewelbox]

Late summer and early autumn flowers and fruits from my garden. This summer has been challenging due to the chilly and wet weather but we have still managed to get an impressive harvest!

[briargeese]

Summer sunshine and sweetness packed into the pears, pure bliss.

[myrmyrtheorca]

I beg you guys to look at the newest object of worship in my house

The One Pear

[aimlessimagination]

Photographer: Francesco P. Nacchia

[teepeecider]

Teepee Cider & BeauVista Orchard Method Albion Cider and Perry. Bottle fermented on lees for at least 3 years. Small organic seasonal orchard produce. Cider apples and perry pear fruit hand crafted into cider and perry at Harvest time.

“A Taste worth More”

#apples #cider #pear #perry #ShropshireSheep #Sheep #Orchard #Seasonal #Harvest #HarvestDriven

[askwhatsforlunch]

Maple Pear and Hazelnut Cake

This Thanksgiving, I am also baking a cake. Not just any cake, though! A moist and light Maple Pear and Hazelnut Cake that celebrates this year's harvest in the garden, and is a delicious mouthful of Autumn comfort! Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

Ingredients (6 to 8):

1 ½ tablespoon unsalted butter

1/2 cup hazelnuts

1 cup Pears in Whisky Syrup + 1/4 cup of the Whisky Syrup 

2 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup caster sugar

4 eggs

1/3 cup hazelnut milk

1/4 cup pure (Grade A) Canadian Maple Syrup

Preheat oven to 160°C/320°F. Butter a 20cm/8” cake tin; set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt butter over a low flame. Once melted, remove from the heat. Set aside.

Toast hazelnuts in a small frying pan over a high flame, a few minutes until just fragrant. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Save four beautiful Pear halves, and place them, cut side down at the bottom of prepared cake tin. Dice the rest of the Pear halves; set aside.

Blitz toasted hazelnuts in a food processor, until you have a fine enough powder (resembling coarse meal).

In a large bowl, combine flour, ground hazelnuts, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and caster sugar. Give a good stir with a wooden spoon.

Dig a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, and break in the eggs. Give a good and gentle stir, gradually adding hazelnut milk, melted butter, Maple Syrup and Whisky Syrup until just combined.

Then, gently fold in Diced Pears, until just combined.

Gently spoon batter evenly over the Pear halves. Place cake tin in the middle of the oven, and bake, at 160°C/320°F, 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Remove from the oven, and allow to cool in the tin, about 15 minutes, before turning out onto serving plate.

Generously brush with Maple Syrup.

Serve Maple Pear and Hazelnut Cake warm or at room temperature, with glass of chilled Champagne.

[themightyfoo]

Harvest time! We took the apples and pears yesterday...boxes and boxes of them (way more than shown here!)

And my husband immediately made two apple pies. Yum! Braeburn apples make such good apple pies.

[seasonalwonderment]

Farro Salad with Pear and Hazelnuts | Feasting At Home

[smww4ever]

One Minute Visual Story

Kal & Diana: Amazonian Orchards

[corvidpolyglot]

a bountiful harvest

[thefearwithin]

The Harvest Bat

The Harvest Bat has a diet as diverse as its color palette, feasting on as large a range of fruits as they can get their claws on. Harvest bats don’t just eat fruits, either, but have also been seen feasting upon various roots and vegetables. In fact, harvest bats got their name from the harvest season, and any crop that gets harvested during this time is one that you might find a curious harvest bat feeding on.

Harvest bats range in size as well, but they’re notable for being a fairly large species on average with most adults reaching the size of the largest flying foxes - and sometimes even larger! While their large size might be off-putting to some, the harvest bat is extremely friendly. It doesn’t take much of an offering to get a harvest bat to perch on your arm while it munches on whatever fruit you’ve given it (and it won't mind some pets, either).

Another reason that the harvest bats are named as such is due to the fact that they’re only seen in the open during the harvest season. This isn’t to say that the bats are unseen throughout the rest of the year, but they’re much more seclusive. Outside of the harvest season, these bats retreat to large cave systems where they spend most of their time. It is believed that the bats switch to a more insectivorous diet during this time, and the harvest season is a time for the bats to stock up on energy for the year. Studies on this behavior are limited as the bats are hard to track once they retreat for the year.