Pear and Vanilla Jam

At Sticky Spoon, we spend a lot of time hunting for the best fruit for our jams and this week was spent shopping around for pears with the very best flavour. After much consideration, discussion with farmers and of course, sampling, we settled on biodynamic fruit from Harvey's Orchards at the Farmers' Market. Their Bosc pears were just perfect for the job, an explosion of pear flavour, hints of floral notes and a subtle, delicate sweetness characteristic of fruit picked at the peak of its season. We certainly are getting to know fruit on a whole new level but wether we are becoming fruit connaisseurs or total fruit geeks is up to you.

We proudly carried home over 50 pounds of those pretty pears (thank you Angela for almost breaking your back) but we won't lie to you, those tiny little things took forever to prep. It was worth every minute of labour because the results are, in our humble opinion, just perfect; a delicate, smooth and pleasantly sweet jam with a subtle hint of vanilla. In addition to the taste, the fact that we combined a large quantity of Bosc pears with a few pounds of Harvey's Orchards' red pears resulted in a gorgeous rose colored jam.

We both took a jar home with us and reached for a bottle of bourbon. A generous spoonful of pear vanilla jam, a couple of ounces of bourbon, lemon juice, freshly grated ginger and a few drops of bitters were shaken and served over ice as a one of the most satisfying cocktails we have had in a long time. The rest of the pear and vanilla jam made for a delicious breakfast over walnut bread and brie. We can't wait to share it with you.