Make Fast Pear Wine (Cordial)
Using Seasonal Pears and Leftover Oxidized White Wine, you can make a delicious pear wine that is just as clear as regular wine, but filled with fruity aromatics that can uplift your drinks and add complexity.
Not too sweet with just a bit of dryness, this is a beautiful piece of liquid that is amazing on its own, over ice, mixed in a low ABV cocktail, or just used as an alternate to fortified wines for cocktails.
Now while this is not real Pear Wine (naturally fermented), it is a faster alternative that anyone can do at home or in a bar. The final result will look and taste strikingly similar!
PROBLEM! Pear is a difficult fruit to use in cocktails because of its high fiber content. Most Pear cocktails have a ‘gloopy’ texture to them which can sometimes be a bit grainy and thick…Not good at all…
SOLUTION! The texture while unpleasant, can be changed with a simple clarification. Once you remove that thick smoothie-like texture you’ll be left with a very light aromatic liquid that is as strong in the aroma as it is in its flavor.
Ingredients
To make this simple yet delicious recipe, you’ll need:
- Oxidized White Wine
- Pear
- Sugar (white granulated)
- Your Choice of Spices like Cinnamon and Star Anise. (This is a perfect opportunity to use leftover ingredients like Lemon or Lime Piths)
- Microwave
- Blender
- Coffee Filter
Unlike apples, pear core is much softer, making it easier to use, eat, and digest.
Because the core, skin, and flesh of the pear are soft and consumable, hardly any of it will be wasted from this experiment. Just make sure to wait for your pears to be completely ripe.
In combination with pears, this recipe will use oxidized white wine, which should be open for at least 3 days and should taste slightly tart and acidic.
Mixing it with the pears’ natural sweetness will re-balance the wine’s flavors and make this into one heck of a good drink though!
HOWEVER…before the two are combined, it’s a great move to infuse your wine with spices that will complement the pears’ flavors.
We will be doing this by means of infusion using a microwave.
Microwaving the wine with the spices will rapidly infuse it as well as retain the wine’s characteristic flavors that would be normally lost if heated on a stove pot. In addition, microwaving with a closed container will prevent the alcohol from completely evaporating.
Part I:
Make Pear Oleo
Take your pear, wash it well, and do not peel it. You want to keep the skin on which is where most of the flavor is concealed!
Dice it up and measure your amount.
Your ratio for this recipe should be:
Pears : Sugar = 4 : 1
So if you’re calculating by volume, every 200ml of diced pear should be combined with 50ml of white sugar.
It is not necessary to add too much sugar because the pear already has a natural sweetness. You just need enough to enhance its flavor so that it can stand out more.
Place the pear and sugar in a jar and shake them up until all the pear is coated with sugar. Let it sit in a dark place at room temperature.
Part II:
White Wine Infusion
Before mixing wine with the oleo, it’s a good idea to infuse some added spices into it to complement the flavors of the pear.
I’m using Cinnamon, Star Anise, and Leftover Lemon Pith.
Adding Lemon or Lime pith is an excellent way for adding additional acidic flavors to balance the sweetness of the pear. And besides, what else were you going to use that pith for?
The amount of your wine depends on how much pear oleo you made.
Keep the ratio:
1 Pear Oleo : 4 Oxidized Wine
So if you have around 100ml of pear oleo, you’ll want to have 400ml of white wine on hand.
Place everything in a glass bowl and cover it with a ceramic plate on top.
Make sure you’re not using any metal or plastic, as it doesn’t react well to microwaves.
As mentioned before, microwaving for cocktails:
- infuses flavors rapidly without losing important aromas from alcoholic ingredients, and
- helps you retain alcohol for the final product.
Zap it for 3 minutes at 600 Watts.
Once you’ve zapped your wine, leave it to sit and cool down back to room temperature.
Don’t take off the cover until everything is completely cool.
You’ll notice a color change.
Part III:
Combine the Two
Filter out the wine from the spices.
TIP! –> Remember to save your used Cinnamon and Star Anise. Even though most of their flavor has been lost, they can still be used a second time or grated over drinks as a garnish!
Combine the wine and pear chunks and oleo in a blender.
Blend everything together at a high speed until the pear is completely turned to mush.
Filter this smoothie-like stuff through a coffee filter, until it drip, drip, drips.
Now, all that’s left to do is wait until the pear infused wine is completely filtered.
Your remaining liquid will be almost completely clarified with just the lightest of colors.
Have a taste, and if too sweet, adjust it by adding a little more oxidized white wine…
This process removes all of the microparticles in the liquid, resulting in a clear Pear Wine, slam-packed with beautiful aromas that required hardly any time to make.
TIP! –> After all the solids are removed from the coffee filter, save it as a pear purèe for other cocktails or food items! It is also packed with flavor
Conclusion:
How to Use
Pear Wine will give brightness to your drinks and could even replace some of your fortified wines in cocktails for the Fall and Winter Season.
Super versatile, pear wine will work with most spirits: Vodka, Gin, Rye, Irish, Scotch, Japanese Whisky, and most Rums.
I find that the best amount to put in cocktails is usually 20 – 30ml. You can balance that amount with a typical 15ml of a sweetener (ex simple syrup or honey syrup) with a 20/30ml acid (ex. lemon or lime juice) and it will still keep your cocktails balanced.
Think of this ingredient as a way to add some complexity and additional notes to your drinks, but remember that it is still delicate, so mixing it with too many strong flavors can destroy it.
Fizzes, sours, stirred drinks, or spritz’s, this ingredient will work with just about anything!
Featured Cocktail:
Highfall
Pear Wine works well with any aged spirit, so I’m using mine in a scotch highball cocktail.
The leftover pulp from the process of making the wine has been dehydrated at a very low temperature for a couple of hours into a leather to be used as a garnish.
Super tasty!
- 30ml Blended Scotch
- 45ml Pear Wine
- 90ml Soda Water
- Leftover Lemon Spray
- Garnish with Pear Leather
