Pear compote

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 400 g, you will need:

• 1 500 g Pears
• 2 50 g caster sugar
• 3 10 g Vanilla sugar
• 4 1 lemon
• 5 3 g agar-agar
• Total weight: 695 grams

Times:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
30 min.	10 min.	40 min.

Step by step recipe

1	Peel the pears.
2	Cut them into 4 lengthways, then remove the core from each quarter. Note: if your pears start to oxidize (turn brown) quickly, moisten them with a little lemon juice, or a little water and Vitamin C as you cut them.
3	Cut the quarters into small pieces in a pan. Add 1 tablespoon of water and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice if you have not already added lemon juice during the cutting process.
4	1st method (thickening): Put the pan on low heat, add 50 g caster sugar and 10 g Vanilla sugar, cover and leave to come to the boil. Take off the lid and leave to cook until the pears are soft.
5	Remove from the heat and blend thoroughly.
6	Return to the heat and bring to the boil. Add 3 g agar-agar while whisking. Blend again and your pear compote is ready.
7	2nd method (draining): Put the pan on low heat, but do not add the sugar. Cover and leave to come to the boil. Take off the lid and leave to cook until the pears are soft.
8	Drain the pears, then return to the pan on low heat and add 50 g caster sugar and 10 g Vanilla sugar. Cover and leave to simmer until the sugar has melted.
9	Blend thoroughly.
10	Your pear compote is ready.

Remarks

The choice of pears is very important. The quality of your compote will depend largely on their variety, ripeness and flavour. Choose the variety you prefer, of course, but I have a weakness for Williams. Avoid using Louise Bonnes as they do not cook well.
If you choose the gelling method, note that the weight of agar-agar is important and must be in proportion to the volume of pears after blending. A good rule of thumb is 4g agar-agar to one litre of blended pears.

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