Cape wine pears

Name: Cape wine pears
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 6
Cuisine: South Africa
Ingredients: 6 medium firm pears (Packham, Conference, or Bosc), peeled, stems left on; 750 ml robust red wine (a Cape Pinotage, Shiraz, or Merlot, full-bodied and fruity); 200 ml water; 150 g white or light brown sugar; 2 cinnamon quills; 6 whole cloves; 2 star anise; 1 vanilla pod, split (or 1 tsp vanilla extract); 3 strips orange zest (pared with a peeler, no white pith); 1 tbsp red wine vinegar or lemon juice (for brightness); Thick cream, mascarpone, or crème fraîche, to serve

The Cape Dutch kitchen's autumn ritual: firm pears poached whole in robust Cape red wine with cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and orange zest until garnet and trembling: the preserved fruit cellars of the Dutch East India Company farmsteads of Stellenbosch

Origin: South Africa

From the journey of Pear.

The Cape Colony, established by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652, became within a generation one of the most productive fruit-growing regions in the world. Jan van Riebeeck's original brief was to establish a refreshment station for VOC ships, and orchards of apples, pears, quinces, and grapes were among the first plantings. The Dutch settlers (many of them French Huguenot refugees who arrived in the Franschhoek and Stellenbosch valleys after 1688) brought both the pear-growing tradition of Normandy and the Dutch tradition of preserving fruit in wine, sugar, and spice. The Cape farmstead (plaas) kitchens of the 18th and 19th centuries developed a distinctive culinary tradition, Cape Dutch or Cape Malay-influenced, that married the European techniques of the colonists with the spices arriving on VOC ships from Batavia, Ceylon, and the Moluccas. Wine-preserved pears, whole-poached in the bold, tannic reds of the Stellenbosch and Paarl valleys with cinnamon quills, cloves, star anise, and orange peel, were a standard preparation for the cellar, preserved for months and served throughout the year as a dessert, an accompaniment to game, or pressed into pastry. The recipe belongs to what South Africans call 'Boerekos'; farm food; but its elegance is unmistakably European.

Ingredients

Fruit

6 medium firm pears (Packham, Conference, or Bosc), peeled, stems left on

Wine

750 ml robust red wine (a Cape Pinotage, Shiraz, or Merlot, full-bodied and fruity)

Liquid

200 ml water

Sweetening

150 g white or light brown sugar

Spices

2 cinnamon quills
6 whole cloves
2 star anise

Flavour

1 vanilla pod, split (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
3 strips orange zest (pared with a peeler, no white pith)

Seasoning

1 tbsp red wine vinegar or lemon juice (for brightness)

Accompaniment

Thick cream, mascarpone, or crème fraîche, to serve

Method

Peel the pears carefully with a vegetable peeler, leaving the stems intact. If the pears are very fat, cut a thin slice from the base so they stand upright.
Combine the wine, water, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, vanilla pod, and orange zest in a saucepan or deep casserole just wide enough to hold the pears upright. Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
Stand the pears upright in the wine syrup. The liquid should come at least two-thirds up the pears; add more wine or water if necessary. Bring back to a gentle simmer.
Cover with a piece of baking parchment pressed directly onto the surface of the liquid (a cartouche) to keep the pears submerged. Simmer gently for 25–35 minutes, turning the pears once, until they are completely tender when pierced with a skewer and deeply garnet-coloured throughout.
Remove the pears with a slotted spoon. Bring the poaching liquid to a vigorous boil and reduce by half, about 10 minutes, until syrupy and coating the back of a spoon. Add the red wine vinegar or lemon juice to balance the sweetness.
Serve the pears warm or at room temperature, standing upright, with the reduced wine syrup spooned over them. Accompany with thick cream, mascarpone, or crème fraîche. The pears can also be stored in the syrup in sterilised jars for up to 3 months.

Notes

The Franschhoek Valley, its name meaning 'French Corner' in Dutch, was settled in 1688 by 200 Huguenot refugees from the wine-growing regions of France, many from Burgundy, Bordeaux, and the Loire. They brought with them both vine cuttings and fruit tree knowledge; the wine-pear connection in Cape cuisine is thus both Dutch (pears and preservation) and French (wine and finesse). The pears of the Western Cape today, particularly the Ceres valley and Elgin highlands, supply a significant proportion of Southern Hemisphere pear exports. The traditional Cape wine pear, preserved in the farmhouse cellar, is a direct survival of the 17th-century Dutch and Huguenot kitchen.

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control