Pear Spread April 3, 2008

Pears have been on sale for the longest time every time I visit the grocery store.  So I decided to buy some the other day to make my roasted pears for the French Dinner.  I love these roasted pears, but it was time for some diversity…  so I decided to make butter – Pear Butter.

I am not going to question how the name came to be… especially after my previous post about a punch called a “bull”.  If I were to name this in Spanish it would probably be something like “Compota de Peras” or Pear Compote.  However, I believe the name Pear Spread is truer to the final application.

Here’s how I made it…

 

PEAR SPREAD

2 ripe Bartlet Pears, peeled, cored and cut into 1-inch pieces

½ cup water

2 tbs white balsamic vinegar

2 tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice

 

¾ cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla powder

1 cinnamon stick

Pinch of salt

 

1. Combine pears, water, vinegar and lemon juice in a medium heavy saucepan.  Cover and simmer until pears are soft, stirring occasionally, about 20-25 minutes.
2. 
3. Puree the mixture using a hand blender or in a food processor.  If using the food processor, be careful transferring the mixture to the food processor and back into the saucepan again, because the liquid is very hot.
4. 
5. Add the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and salt to the pureed mixture.  Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves.
6. Increase the heat to medium and boil gently uncovered until mixture reduces and thickens, about 1 hour.  Stir occasionally to prevent any scorching in the bottom.
7. Discard the cinnamon stick.  Spoon the spread into canning jars if canning.  I do not know how to do that, so I just waited for the mixture to cool down some and transferred to a plastic container and ate it all within a week.

 

Tamarind Balls - The best reason to visit St. Kitts February 27, 2008

Sorry, I feel like I have been neglecting all of you… but I was away for the weekend celebrating my 20th high school reunion aboard the Empress of the Seas, a weekend cruise that took us to St. Kitts and St. Maarten.  It was awesome to spend time with my school friends, some of whom I had not seen in over 10 years and have known for almost 32 years of my life.  I practically grew up with these people!!!

We visited St. Kitts as one of the stops in our journey… and my good friend Marly told me about Tamarind Balls.  This is a local sweet made with tamarind pulp, sugar, sometimes spices and even has the tamarind seed inside.  They’re tart and sweet, all in the same bite.  This is my kind of souvenir - not a t-shirt or a hat, a good sweet treat only made and found in this little Caribbean island.  My friend Marly discovered them because a cousin for her husband went to school in St. Kitts and used to bring them to them as gifts from the Island.  She tells me she has kept some for over a year in her fridge and they do not go bad.

 

I bought them in a pharmacy - they were sitting right there amongst the traditional commercially made candy.  The lighter colored version is made with sugar and spices.  The darker ones are made only with sugar.  To my taste, they taste truer to a raw tamarind fruit.  They’re both good in their won little way.  They cost me about a $1 USD each.  I brought in about 10 packages - some for me, some to give as gifts…

 

The beach was great - we went to Turtle Beach, with Nevis on the background.  I will not go into the details on how we got to Turtle Beach, but to me, the best reason to visit St Kitts, is for their Tamarind Balls.