| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| gz |
crab pearsi have been given a bag of these and a handful of cuttings from a weeping crab pear tree.any suggestions as to recipes? do i assume that i will have a problem with lack of pectin? |
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| gil |
wine ? Same recipe as for crab apple. | ||
| gz |
jelly or juice? | ||
| gil |
Wouldn't think you'd get much juice out of a crab pear ???
Jelly - mix in some crab apples to get a set. Or quince. |
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| gz |
I have some nice crab apples spare 
The crab apple wine is looking good btw. How long do I leave wines in the first demijohn? Should I put them in a fresh demijohn for a while (minus the lees)? |
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| cab |
Mixed with quince and crab apples, makes just about the finest jelly you can ever have. | ||
| gz |
I don't have any quince unfortunately.
The jellybag is dripping nicely for crab pearanapple jelly then cheese 
I juiced a large handful and got a whiskyglassful of very nice juice- we don't like things too sweet, although it was better watered down. That could be the start of something VERY interesting 
Must see if I can have some more fruit 
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| gil |
I leave my wines in the first demijohn till they have finished visibly bubbling / fermenting, and their SG is 990-1000. But that's cos I have a constantly warm fermentation chamber and they'll ferment out to dry quickly and no probs. Then i rack them off the lees. However, there are very few lees in my fermenting wine, because I strain the must through a jelly bag+funnel off the pulp and into the DJ. So I haven't got loads of fruit pulpy stuff in my DJs, less than half an inch. If I had more sediment, I might rack sooner. |
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| cab |
Actually I wonder whether you could get a two-for-one out of wildling pears. You can with quince or japonica; make a wine with the fruit in a jelly bag, then cook the pulp down, sieve it, add spices, and make a fruit curd. | ||
| gz |
Finished making pearandapple jelly this morning-very nice indeed, with an aftertaste of pear.
I juiced a handful, put it through a jellybag then filtered it. This is VERY good, worth brewing from, whether wine or something stronger.... The next step is to get some more!! I have been given cuttings too- a bit early but they might be OK. |
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| gil |
I wouldn't want to make jelly with spent pulp from fermentation, i.e. that has yeast in, and hence a yeasty taste. The taste of a solution with yeast in that has been boiled is vile. Maybe the other way round : use the fruit first to make jelly, then set the contents of the jelly bag fermenting for wine (instead of, say, proceeding to making a fruit cheese or fruit pastilles) |
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| gz |
The pears are from a weeping crab pear- I thought it a weeping willow at first
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| marigold |
I've noticed few trees around town which have teeny tiny pears dropping off them - would they be crab pears? Funny that I'd never heard of crab pears before and saw this thread within a few days of spotting the trees
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| gz |
There are a few fastigate pears around Roath in Cardiff, | ||
| gz |
they are definitely pears, although there seems to be some confusion?
"Apple (Malus pumila) is the most commercially important species in the rose family (Rosaceae). The apple is of Eurasian origin. It is suspected that the apple most likely developed by artificial selection from Malus sieversii a crab-apple native to Kazakhstan. But M. sieversii might be merely a subspecies of M. pumila. Several od the Asiatic ‘species’sargentii, orientalis, prunifolia and niedzwetzkyana are probably really subspecies of M. pumila. However, the apple has many American and Eurasian relatives that are distinct species. These trees are collectively referred to as 'crab-apples' (Pyrus spp. & Malus spp.). Apples and pears are very similar. In fact, apart from the true pear (Pyrus communis) and the apple, it is difficult to decide if the other crab-apples are really crab-apples or crab-pears. Taxonomists usually determine the genera of the crab-apples by their ability to hybridise. Malus and Pyrus species generally cannot hybridise with each other." From the first thing that comes up when you google crab pear |
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| gz |
So they are planted in other cities than Cardiff too-
http://www.londontrees.co.uk/pear.html |
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| marigold |
Thanks - I had a quick google and found a lot of recipes for avocado pear and crab salad .
That site is a good idea, but sadly not very well laid out (IMO). |
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| gil |
Ah. I thought you meant you had pyrus communis [wild pears], which I call crab pears. Didn't realise there were other kinds. | ||
| gz |
pyrus salicifolia pendula | ||
| gil |
sorry, I meant pyrus pyraster pic partway down page |
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| cab |
They aren't uncommon. Theres a spot on the edge of the golf course down near Shelford where you can gather nearly as many as you like. Quite often planted on roadsides too. | ||
| gz |
The fruit on pyrus pyrastrer and p. salicifolia pendula look the same
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| yummersetter |
I have one at the end of a long path in the vegetable garden, it's very pretty, especially when in blossom.
Loads of tiny pears on it too, but I have a lot of 'proper' pears to deal with so they're for the birds, I guess, unless someone really wants some. |