Pickled Seckel Pears

What a fun name.  The mini Seckel pears are at the farmers markets now, so I tried a recipe from the 1800s to preserve Seckel pears. Very sweet. The pears pictured are from a different recipe using vinegar, cloves, cinnamon, and allspice.

The following recipe I cut down to 12 pears (1 1/2 pounds) and used a cinnamon stick, whole allspice, whole cloves and  proportionally less liquid and sugar.

Pickled Seckel Pears

7 pounds Seckel pears     1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 pint vinegar                   1 tablespoon allspice

1 pint water                      1 tablespoon cloves

3 ½ pounds sugar

Pare the fruit, remove the blossom end, but leave the stem on.  Make a sirup of the vinegar, water, sugar and spice, boiled for five minutes.  Add the fruit and cook until clear.  Seal in hot, clean jars.

Delineator Cook Book… under the direction of Mildred Maddocks Bentley from The New Butterick Cook Book.  NY: 1928

How to eat: At the farm stand, the older lady said her mother pickled seckel pears. They would hold the stem, put the little pear in their mouth, and then pull the stem thus removing the seeds and core.  It didn't work with this batch - the stem came off and they ate the entire pear.  or it can be eaten during a meal using a fork and knife.

©2015 Patricia Bixler Reber
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