Ginger pears (vegan)

For this I used mostly d'anjou and some red scarlet pears.

 As promised I am going to let you know what I choose to put up and when so you can see what goes into my pantry/larder.

I think that ginger is one of those things that rings freshness through the nose.  You FEEL it's flavor.  Like hot peppers, it is a bit of a physically undeniable experience that extends the tasting to a perfume.
I feel Ginger harkens excitement, awakening and makes things happier.  I once hated it and now am confused at how I could have possibly.

I am a big pear fan.  I feel like if I had a friend I'd want them to be an apple - a little more durable and robust, but a pear is a lover.  It takes a little more finesse and you must treat them nicer.  So isn't it lovely that pears have a very long season (variety to variety).  This means that they can get nabbed locally (for me) for a lot of months.  This makes me feel contented until their prices go up... then less so.  So preserving them is a good thing while they are cheap.  Cheap, FRESH, seasonal and local.

I looked through the giant catalog styled books of canning and found not a jot interesting enough to try out on the pears (other than pear butters, which require a lot more pears than I was willing to sacrifice).  So feeling a bit like Imelda Marcos needing a pair of sturdy hiking boots I went all internet on it and still came up short.  In which case the result is *&@% it, add cardamom and ginger - bang. Done.

I use Jelly jars for this recipe because it is potent and I can't imagine eating a lot in one sitting.  If you have a big family then Quarts may be the way to go.

You will need approximately 1 pear for every half pint (the little jelly jars) you use.  The yield depends on how packed you can get the jars with pear pieces.  It averages 10 half pints per this recipe of liquid it you jam them babies up well (making sure to leave just enough room to have the lids seat properly).  I got 20 jars from 18 pears and did the recipe below twice for that same amount.

5 - 6 Cups water
2 1/2 Cups vegan sugar - this is considered a "light syrup" I feel "light" is by old standards and seems really sweet to me.
8-10 cardamom pods
2 -3 twigs of cinnamon (I used real cinnamon not cassia bark... Ceylon/real cinnamon is lovely, delicate and smooth,  cassia is potent so you can use a lot less of it for this.  1 twig or 1 heaping tsp of cassia cinnamon.  If you don't know if your powder is cassia and you are in the US, chances are it is, if it says Ceylon then you know it isn't.  If it doesn't state this implicitly then it is cassia.)
3/4 inch knuckle of ginger root grated (This is plenty to bring the feeling and taste of ginger without a lot of nose heat, if you'd like more do it up.)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 lemon's zest

Bring water to a simmer - light boil, add sugar and whisk gently to blend into dissolving. Once dissolved add spices, zest and ginger. While liquid simmers and steeps peel and core fruit and slice into chunks and coat with a touch of lemon juice to keep them from browning.
In your clean jars add a 1 tsp lemon juice this will insure your fruit has enough acidity to preserve.
pack well with pear pieces.
Strain your very hot liquid through a sieve and fill jars with syrup leaving 1/4-1/2 inch room.
Lid and finger tighten then place into water bath's boil water.

I pre-warm my oven to 150-200
I have the jars rumble boil in the bath for at least 12 minutes then move the hot jars to a lightly warm oven 150-200 for 5 minutes... then move the jars to room temp until they cool.  This will help them cool down SLOWLY.  You'll hear the jars doing "things" and making sounds for the next hour and that is the jars sealing themselves into that vacuum to keep things tasty and pure for you.

Process your water bath as you normally do.  If you don't normally do this then I recommend you grab a book on the subject to fully understand it as food preservation is pretty crucial to get correct.  The rule is that you hear a "voop" sound when you open the jar to eat.  It not... that jar of stuff can make you dead sick, or just dead.

Pack your jars well so when the jar is sealed and the fruit floats there isn't a lot of room that is just syrup.

Serve these as a dessert alone or over ice cream, whipped cream, vanilla breads of a variety of sorts or a rich deep almost bitter chocolate thing.

I'm blowing your mind, I know.
...crickets...

Cherimoya

 If you're new to discovering this fruit then you're at least in my company.  To learn about the cherimoya for me is to gain the knowledge that if things turned castaway I would search the island praying it had these growing on it.  The fruit is not just delicious but also full of vital stuff as well: fat (none of it saturated), fiber, carbs, and protein.  It is one of those fruits that's a meal which can sustain you.

On it's flavor; it is a combination of tastes which can only be described as cherimoya.  It tastes like a pina colada if it were one fruit - banana, yogurt, vanilla custard wrapped in pineapple.  It is an experience for sure.  It can be blended with a tea, it can be turned into sorbet, eaten straight.  I would not recommend heating this fruit as it would lose a lot of the qualities it is coveted for.  It is a very impressive fruit which makes entertaining absolutely within everyone's grasp.  It is at it's best raw, cooled and/or straight up.  I do think it is a good raw dessert.  A nice filling for a pie crust.  A nice accompaniment to strawberries, blueberries and I'm sure others.  It's a king among the fruits for sure.  The wiki for Cherimoya.

I'm looking into some cherimoya ice cream!

Oat Flour Oil Pastry crust fresh from the oven

Cherimoya with yogurt cheese, ready to blend

For good pie crusts I recommend three kinds in order of favorite first:

1. An oil pastry.  Which is flaky, delicious and alright for those avoiding cholesterol or animal products.  My favorite being rolled oats blended in a food processor into a flour and using:

• 1 heaping Cup of oat flour
• 1 shallow cup of whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/3 Cup -1/2 Cup olive oil
• pinch of salt

Blend all in a bowl until well combined the oil makes the flour stick to itself and you can pat out 4 small tart shells or one large one.  Preheat oven to 450 bake 15 minutes checking to make sure not over browning.  Take out let cool and fill shell with blended Cherimoya.  I like to blend a little yogurt cheese into it to amp up the creaminess. Chill in the fridge for 15 -60 minutes and top with strawberries.

2. A blend of oats, whole wheat flour, butter and sugar like a "crisp." Or brown Betty.  Which is lightly toasted until crisp then fill with raw cherimoya or top the cherimoya after baking the crisp parts. 

3. A raw crust of hazelnuts or almonds ground and blended with just enough of either honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar to bind the nuts and pat into a pan and fill with spoon blended cherimoya and top with other fruits.

Cherimoya seeds have a very high germination success rate and seeds remain viable for a few years after cleaning, drying and packaging (jar or envelope).