Cardamom and White Wine Poached Pears Recipe

These cardamom and white wine poached pears are a super tasty, elegant dessert that is ready with minimal effort. I chose a sweet, smooth white wine for this recipe, a lovely Chardonnay from McGuigans black label but you can choose a wine suited to your taste.

This no fuss dessert recipe begins with peeling the pears and then submerging and cooking them in the syrup made from water, sugar, white wine, star anise, cardamom pods and a cinnamon stick. When the pears are cooked, they are removed from the poaching liquid and the remaining liquid is boiled for a further 10 minutes to condense it and thicken it slightly.

Should the pears be ripe?

Ideally you want the pears to be barely just ripe, sweet but still firm. When cooked you want them to still hold shape and not turn into total mush. However, if you happen to have slightly overripe pears or you just happened to have a particularly squishy type of pear, just decrease the cooking time by 5-10 minutes, making sure to check the pear every 5 minutes.

How do I store the poached pears?

Store your poached pears in the fridge submerged in the poaching liquid. They will keep well for up to a week in an airtight container. They also freeze well, place pears in a plastic ziplock bag and pour poaching liquid over until covered. Seal, removing any excess air and pop into the freezer. They will keep for up to 3 months in the freezer.

What can I do with the leftover poaching liquid?

There’s actually many uses for leftover poaching liquid! It can be used as a wonderful syrup in cocktails. Simply add prosecco for a simply spiced fizzy cocktail. Or if you’re looking for a hot cocktail it would be a lovely addition to a hot Irish Whiskey. Basically, any cocktail that benefits from something sweet and spiced would be ideal for this syrup. The liquid could also be used in drizzle or polenta cake (recipe coming soon!)recipes where it calls for the hot cake to be covered in a syrup to soak up flavour. The leftover syrup can also be used to make candied citrus slices. I used mine to make candied orange slices. I sliced the oranges in whole, thin slices, boiled them in the leftover syrup and popped them into the oven at 110°c (230°f) for one hour-ish until dry. It might take as long as two hours if you’ve cut the slices a little thick.