Salt-Cured Pears with Cornelian Cherry
Salt-cured pears are a nearly forgotten preserve that sounds almost exotic today: not a sweet jam but a fermented fruit with a tart, spiced edge, served with meat and game the way soured apples are. Small firm or even wild pears — the kind that are otherwise hard to use up — are exactly right here.
Two ingredients give the jar its character. The scented geranium leaves (pelargonium) lend a faint rose-citrus aroma, while the cornelian cherry — a small, sour red stone fruit tasting somewhere between cranberry and sour cherry; substitute a handful of fresh or dried cranberries — brings tannins that keep the pears firm and tint the brine pink. It’s an old southern method of curing with no vinegar at all, just salt and a pinch of citric acid in about 1.3 liters (roughly 5 1/2 cups) of cooled boiled water.
The fermentation ritual matters: over the 20 days, turn the jar upside down and back again as directed. That redistributes the brine so the top pears never sit exposed and go moldy. Keep the jar somewhere cool, and serve the pears chilled alongside a roast.
Part of Ukrainian cuisine — 288 more recipes in the section.
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Ingredients
Instructions
Remove the stems from the small pears, wash them well, and carefully pack them into a 3-liter jar.
Add the salt, geranium leaves, ripe cornelian cherries, and a pinch of citric acid.
Pour in cold pre-boiled water (about 1.3 liters) and close the jar with a lid.
After a day, turn the jar upside down and back again, repeating this 10 times over the following days.
After 20 days the cure is ready. It's tasty even without the cornelian cherry.
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