My in laws have a wild pear tree and every year I think surly there is something I can do with them and not let them go to waste.  Wild pears are super hard so they aren’t very good to just eat.  I had a big ham and wanted to do something with it so me and my girls decided to walk down to my in laws house and pick a few pears for a glaze. I haven’t made a glaze like this before so it was a little bit of guessing and testing as I went along. The end product was great so this is what I did.

Ingredients:

3-4 wild pears

1 cup brown sugar

1 cinnamon stick

3 cups water (you will be cooking it down to about a cup and a half)

1 tsp all spice

1 tbsp lemon juice

½ tbsp. butter

1 tbsp corn starch

peal your pears, I used a potato peeler which worked well, the pears get a little slippery so don’t cut yourself!  Cube up the pair and put them into your sauce pan.

Next simply add the rest of your ingredients (except the cornstarch)  and put on the stove at a simmer.  You are going to be reducing the sauce quite a bit and you want your pears to get very soft and translucent.  Stir occasionally and keep an eye on the heat, since you are using so much sugar you are in danger of burning it if you don’t keep an eye on it. If you are noticing your liquid is boiling out to quickly and your pears are still a little hard, add some more water a ¼ cup at a time and just keep on keeping on.  Once you have reduced to about a cup and a half (you can totally guess) and the pears are completely soft and starting to fall apart take your corn starch and put it in a small bowl with enough water to dissolve the starch and stir into your sauce.  Let it cook for a little bit until it thickens to the consistency of a thick syrup.  

Be sure to taste it, you may need more sugar or lemon juice.

I served mine over ham but it would be great with pork chops or chicken as well.

ENJOY!

REMEMBER TO TASTE AS YOU MAKE!