The perfect pear (+recipes)

Photo / Babiche Martens

I love pears. They have a gorgeously delicate flavour that works well with sweet and buttery but also savoury flavours. Enjoy them cold and crisp sliced into a salad or roasted with duck or pork. Paired with a crumbling Parmigiana, pecorino or even a creamy brie or slender wedge of fontina melting on to the plate, pears are a simple delight to savour. Plenty of crusty sourdough to smear the cheese on and, perhaps, a glass of wine is all that is needed.

Perfectly ripe pears are an absolute pleasure to eat just as is - they're sweet and succulent, especially when the juices are running down your chin.

Pears have been on the shelves for just a few weeks now. They ripen from the inside out and are at their best when picked hard and then left to ripen at room temperature. I would suggest buying from markets and orchard stores instead of supermarkets where the fruit has been kept in coolstores for unknown lengths of time.

Today I have chosen three sweet recipes. Firstly, using the pears unpeeled and diced in a friand recipe; secondly, halved and baked, incorporating the flavours of rum, chestnut puree and cinnamon; and thirdly, simmered with nutmeg, vanilla and ginger before becoming delicious individual pear sponge puddings.