Boozy fruit!

To those that may remember, I started my preserving journey earlier this year when summer was at it's peak and fruit aplenty. Whilst the jam making has gone from strength to strength, preserving fruit ah not so good . Yes sure, the fruit is preserved, but the aesthetics leave a bit to be desired. The man of the house thinks I am just being precious, but I do not like my fruit to rise to the top. In Suzy's imagination, my (fantasy) walk in pantry has jars and jars of gorgeous fruit ready to be eaten all year round!

A good friend of mine says I just need to kidnap a nanna at next year's Canberra Show, and hold them hostage until they show me how to do this fruit thing properly. The syrup is not too heavy, I used the least amount of sugar recommended! The fruit is packed tightly, at least I think it is!

So today I tried again - but this time with BOOZE! This is an ode to mulled wine and my favourite desert fruit - the elegant pear...


Details (provided for 1litre jar) - Sterilise jars in the usual manner and have them warm and at the ready. Pack jars with peeled pears, whole if you can and leave the stalks on. In each jar place 75g sugar, 6 or so whole cloves, 2cm piece of ginger julienned, a cinnamon quill and a few zests of orange. Half fill the jar with red wine, then top up with water. The picture above is the jars ready to start bubbling away!

Place in a pre-heated 130 degree oven for 3 hours, with the lids on, but not the screwcap (if that makes sense to you).

TIP - Place them on a tray, as they can boil over and I kept topping up with boiled water whenever the level got down, and again at the end before sealing.

I haven't tasted them yet, but they are floating about in a beautiful thick syrup! Yummo - now the question is can we wait a month before trying?