"Des Higgins" wrote in message
. ie...

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
. net...

"Des Higgins" wrote in message
. ie...
We have a pear tree and live in a cold damp wet country.
A small number of pears ripened this year and some continue to ripen but
the great majority never ripen.
Anyone know what to do with them other than throw them over the back
wall at our neighbours?
I heard someone mention poaching and storing unripe pears; anyone know
how to do that?

Poaching is one solution but it takes ages to prepare hard pears and is
wearing on the hands.

When we had a pear tree and more fruit than even our large and
always-hungry family could consume I made pear chutney, it was excellent
and meant that we could enjoy them year-round.

I do not suppose you can remember the recipe. That sounds like a good
idea!
I will see if I can find some fruit chutney recipes in me curry book.s

We're in Yorkshire, our tree was a Comice, the fruit wasn't ready to pick
until November and the fruit was past its best by Christmas. There are many
types of pears, it doesn't really matter what you have, make the best of it
:-)

No, I can't remember what recipe I used, we cut down the tree a few years
ago. But what I do now is use any chutney recipe and substitute the fruit of
my choice - make sure you use plenty of spice. In a glut of plums this year
I made masses of plum chutney and because I had no whole spices I used some
(a lot!) ground mixed spice. It's wonderful stuff!

Mary