Poached Pear Sorbet Recipe

Before my ice cream maker arrived back in May I was thinking about all the delicious treats I’d make with it. I was reminded of all the great flavours I had made in my old machine. But also, I had this excitement to try creating new recipes. Pear was something I’d never tried making into sorbet before but I waited patiently until fall for ripe fruits and a chance to play. I grew up with pears, mostly canned by my mom and lined up on pantry shelves for winter. As a twenty something I learned to make wine poached pears and it felt like the “adult version” that was perfect for entertaining. Needless the say a poached pear sorbet recipe was a no brainer.

A perfect dessert for fall and winter entertaining

I’m not sure everyone thinks of icy treats in fall and winter, but every so often it’s just perfect. Last month we had a friend from Champagne staying with us. He and my husband went on a famous 14km hike in the forest next to our home called the 25 bosses, or the 25 hills. I knew they’d be hungry when they got home and so I prepared one of my best boeuf bourguignons to date since it had been a cool, wet weekend. But when company comes it’s so nice to have dessert ready too and I love having lots of homemade goodies. My first batch of pear sorbet was born!

What I learned from the first batch was the importance of straining the mix through a sieve to remove the gritty bits from the pear. While I can overlook them, they are a nuisance and distract from the poached pear flavour and when you make the effort, that little extra counts. We ate the first batch so quickly, I got to try again right away! It really was a perfect dessert after a heavier main course.

I tried to keep the flavour crisp, light, bright and delicious. I used a sauvignon blanc wine from the Loire valley called Touraine. A very budget friendly wine but also works well with these clean flavours and I don’t mind sipping it while I work. Rosé is also a great option or if you like the hint of sweetness in wines from Alsace, they could also provide some great flavours and nice acidity. I hope you’ll give my poached pear sorbet recipe a try and let me know what meal you paired it with!

Poached Pear Sorbet

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Course: Dessert

Ingredients Equipment Method

Ingredients

  

• 1200 g Pears, (peeled, cored and roughly chopped) (you want about 1kg after prep – this took me 7 guyot pears)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup glucose syrup
• 1 Tbsp Lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 1 Tbsp Ginger, freshly grated

Equipment

• Ice cream maker

Method

 

1. Peel, core and roughly chop your pears. You're aiming for about 1kg of prepared fruit. Add the pears and remaining ingredients into a medium sized sauce pan along with the remaining ingredients over medium heat bringing it to a simmer to soften the pears and melt the sugar. This should take about 10 minutes.
2. Once it's starting to soften, take it off the heat and allow to cool a few minutes before proceeding.
3. Place the mixture in a blender and get the smoothest possible purée. *Please don't skip cooling the mixture to some degree as exploding hot liquids from a blender is dangerous.
4. Prepare a sieve over a large bowl and strain the liquid to remove any fibres or the gritty bits in the pear as this will greatly improve the finished sorbet. Don't forget to scrape the bottom of the sieve to get all the liquid.
5. Place in the freezer 4 hours or better yet overnight
6. Give it one last stir before adding it to your ice cream maker and churn until you get a creamy beautiful texture. You can return it to the freezer in order to firm it up a little further.