Pears Are Massively Underrated—These Recipes Show Why You Should Cook with Them (2024)

FAQs

Can you cook eating pears? ›

Baked pears are an easy yet elegant sweet and tender dessert that only requires four ingredients and 30 minutes in the oven. They are one of the simplest yet incredibly cozy and tasty recipes you can make. Their natural sweetness and butter-like texture will wow everyone around your table.

With so many varieties available on the market, it can be tough to choose which pears work best for baking. We recommend using Bartlett, Bosc, and Anjou pears. These varieties have the highest volume and are widely available in grocery stores year-round.

Conference pears are best suited for both raw and cooked applications such as baking, roasting, and poaching. They can be served fresh out-of-hand in leafy green salads, in fruit salads, sliced on top of pancakes, oatmeal, and pudding, or displayed on a cheese plate.

Best Pears to Eat Raw

All ripe pears can be enjoyed raw, either eaten out-of-hand or sliced into salads. Here's what you can expect in terms of flavor and texture from common pear varieties: Anjou Pear: A firm, mild-flavored pear that is perfectly juicy. Red and green Anjou pears are nearly identical in flavor.

Pears are a popular choice for pie, bread, and cake, but they are also excellent in salads, soups, and on pizza. Browse over 350 pear recipes. What would you like to cook? Does This Viral Club Soda Hack Really Prevent Fruit from Browning?

The Bottom Line. Pears are good for your digestion, heart and blood glucose levels. They're also free radical warriors. Eat pears raw or try cooking with them in recipes like Baked Oatmeal with Pears, Roasted Butternut Squash & Pear Quinoa Salad and Pear Custard Pie.

Apples and pears have equal amounts of minerals potassium, phosphorous and sodium, and vitamins C and B2. Pears contain more iron, calcium, magnesium, copper, zinc and vitamins B3 and K than apples, while apples are richer in vitamins A, E and B1.

Bananas have a 1:1 ratio of glucose to fructose while pears have twice as much fructose as glucose. Sports drinks have a sugar profile similar to bananas, but in a 2012 study Gillit and Nieman showed that bananas are not only an effective alternative to sports drinks but also a healthier option.

Pears, especially those with red skin, also contain carotenoids, flavonoids, and anthocyanins. These are plant compounds that offer several health benefits and act as antioxidants.

Eat pears whole or cut into quarters. If desired, remove the core. The skin is edible and a great source of fiber. To keep sliced pears from browning, briefly soak them in 1 quart of water + 3 tablespoons lemon juice.

What does pear do to meat? ›

Taking a page from Korean cooking, Corey Lee of three-Michelin-starred Benu in San Francisco uses Asian pears as a meat tenderizer. "Grated pear is a great way to tenderize meats," says Lee.

Yes, dogs can eat pears. Pears are a great snack because they're high in copper, vitamins C and K, and fiber. If you're sharing pears with your dog, just be sure to cut the pear flesh into bite-size chunks and remove the pit and seeds first, as the seeds contain traces of cyanide.

We also know that pears can help control blood sugar and lower your chances of type 2 diabetes and stroke. They can even help you digest food better. And, as a bonus, they're a good way to make you feel like you've had a small treat with some added nutrition.

Comice pears were originally cultivated in France. They're known as the sweetest pear variety, and are often the variety shipped in gift boxes. Because of this, they're sometimes given the nickname “the Christmas pear.” Comice pears have light green skin with a blush of pinkish red.

Yes, it's safe to eat the skin of a pear. In fact, the pear's skin contains many of the fruit's beneficial fibers and nutrients. However, it's a good idea to wash the pear thoroughly to remove any pesticides or residues before eating.

Instead of getting stuck with unripe pears, here is a recipe for you. Make a sweet pear sauce. Cooking the hard pears makes them edible, and since they have a bland taste, I used raisins to add sweetness.

Poach pears in a gentle rolling boil for approximately 20-30 minutes. To test doneness, gently poke pears with a paring knife. If the pears offer little to no resistance, then they are done.

Stewed pears are a tasty simple snack, or even meal, that help to to reduce inflammation in our guts. Eating them regularly can help with IBS, IBD, bloating, pain and constipation and other conditions associated with chronic inflammation.

You may be wondering if you need to cook pears before canning. This is considered hot-packing pears, when you boil them slightly before adding them to your canning jars. You do not need to cook pears before canning, you can use a raw-pack method, but here's why I recommend using a hot pack method.