Cocktails with Pear
Pear is a sweet, juicy tree fruit, used in drinks as fresh flesh or as juice.
How it's used
Muddled, blended or juiced, it gives a gentle, floral sweetness that sits under other flavors instead of leading them. It suits sours and autumn drinks with gin, vodka, Calvados or spice. Brush cut flesh with lemon, since pear browns as fast as apple.
Substitutes for Pear
Canned pears in juice
A brilliant swap by weight. They carry almost the same amount of sugar as fresh ones.
Pears in heavy syrup
These run noticeably sweeter, even drained. If the mix has syrup or sugar, you will need less of it.
Poached pear
Works well too. Just keep in mind it has turned softer and lost some of its vibrant fresh aroma.
Ripe apple
Works nicely. It brings a sharper, tarter flavor with fewer floral notes.
Asian pear
Too crisp and watery. It lacks rich aroma and leaves everything tasting unpleasantly bland.
Storage
A pear ripens from the inside out, so test the neck by the stem, not the belly. It is ripe when the neck yields to gentle thumb pressure. A firm pear needs four to five days at room temperature for a Bartlett and five to seven for a Bosc or Comice. Ripe, it holds a few days chilled and goes grainy soon after.
