I love making homemade hooch. This pear liqueur is one of my favourites. It packs a punch in the flavour department but is silky smooth, rich and luxurious. And a great sipper on long winter evenings. Need I say more?
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Pear liqueur isn’t one you can readily buy in the supermarket and if you can find it then it is pretty damn pricy!
- Making homemade liqueurs is fun and easy without even any actual cooking involved.
- Pear liqueur makes a wonderful gift, especially at Christmas. So when pears are abundant either in the garden or supermarket get making pear liqueur!
I love making homemade liqueurs and infusions and have an entire section of Homemade Liqueurs here on Larder Love for you to take a look at if you want to get even more crafty in the kitchen.
Making pear liqueur couldn’t be easier, it is just a matter of bringing together a few simple ingredients and letting good old Mother Nature do the work.
How long does this liqueur take to make?
This liqueur takes a total of 2 weeks to mature so now is the time to get started if you want to present it as a gorgeous gift at Christmas time.
Ingredients for pear liqueur
Pear – Yes just one pear for this pear liqueur recipe. I have used a large pear of the William variety, though any type of pear will do really. They all have their own flavour. Make sure that your pear is ripe and juicy and unblemished.
Spices – You want some kick of spice in your pear liqueur so I add cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
Orange – I use 2 strips of dried orange peel for extra flavour.
Sugar – go for plain caster sugar in your pear liqueur. If you use brown sugar you would get a more caramel like flavour which might overpower the pear.
Vodka – just buy supermarket type vodka here, step away from the Stolly!
The complete list of ingredients and full instructions for making this recipe can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
How to make dried orange peel
To make the dried orange peel simply use a potato peeler to peel strips of skin off an unwaxed (or well scrubbed and rinsed orange) making sure you just take the skin and not the bitter white pith.
Leave this on a radiator or in an airing cupboard overnight, or warm in a very low oven till completely dried. This intensifies that wonderful orange flavour)
How to make pear liqueur
Pierce the pear all over with a skewer to allow the booze to penetrate the flesh and then allow all that lovely pear juice and flavour to come out.
Put your well-pierced pear into a sterilised jar that it fits into quite snugly and will allow you to add the vodka, orange peel and spices.
Pop on the lid and set this jar on a windowsill for 1 week. It looks quite pretty really, so is no great hardship to have it around.
After a week simply add the sugar to the jar and shake it well as this helps to dissolve the sugar. Now pop the jar in a cupboard for another week and shake it every day to make sure that all the sugar is completely dissolved.
Remove the pear, spices and used orange peel and strain your pear liqueur through a double layer of muslin or kitchen paper (or use a coffee filter).
You may have to do this twice to get a really clear and golden pear liqueur.
Finally, decant your pear liqueur into a sterilised bottle and you are done.
How long will this liqueur last?
Your homemade pear liqueur will keep for up to a year in a cool dark cupboard.
How to serve your pear liqueur
Pear liqueur is wonderful to serve really chilled after a meal or used as part of a martini at cocktail hour.
You can also drip a little over really good ice cream. Perhaps on the side of my Pear Pie. Now that would make a wonderful wintertime dessert.
It makes a great foodie gift too, so make some for Christmas hampers and get ahead with your festive preparations. Have you seen my eBooks packed with foodie gift ideas?
Naughty & Nice Foodie Gifts For Christmas
Cheers!
This recipe makes a great foodie gift, so why not check out my post on how to make Christmas hampers.
Looking for more super tasty pear recipes to try? Then check these out before you go;
Pear jam with pepper and lemon (refined sugar free)
Stilton pear and walnut blue cheese dip
Easy pear pie (pear tart tatin)
Looking for more homemade liqueurs to try? Then check out my Homemade Liqueurs & Infusions section.
Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below as I just love to hear from readers. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and sign up for my newsletter too of course.
Pear Liqueur
Ingredients
- 1 large pear the William variety is perfect for this, though any will do really
- 1/2 cinnamon stick
- 1/4 nutmeg broken into small pieces
- 2 strips of dried orange peel
- 6 cloves
- 500 ml vodka
- 150 g caster sugar
Instructions
- Make sure you have a ripe yet unblemished pear and rinse and pat dry
- Pierce the pear all over with a fine skewer
- Place the pear in a sterilised glass jar that it fits quite snugly and will allow your 500ml vodka
- Add the spices and orange peel
- (to make the dried orange peel simply use a potato peeler to peel strips of skin off an unwaxed (or well scrubbed and rinsed orange) making sure you just take the skin and not the bitter white pith. Leave this on a radiator or in an airing cupboard overnight, or warm in a very low oven till completely dried. This intensifies that wonderful orange flavour)
- Fill jar with vodka and pop on the lid
- Set on a sunny windowsill for 1 week. It looks rather pretty so is no hardship to have around!
- After a week open the jar and add the sugar
- Shake well and set aside in a cool dark cupboard for a further week making sure you give it a shake every day or so to get that sugar to completely dissolve
- Remove pear and spices from the jar and strain the contents through a sieve lined with a double layer of muslin (or use a coffee filter), I like to do this part twice to get a really clear liqueur.
- Decant the liquid into a sterilised bottle and enjoy
Hi there ! I was looking for an interesting recipe for the hundreds of pears we have in our garden and this looks really interesting. Can it be done in big batches – using say 10 pears at a time ?
Hi Susan
Yes just multiply the quantities and it should work out fine.
K x
My first crop of pears during lockdown. Followed the recipe and well what can I say? Amazing. Mixed a small amount with ginger ale and ice and literally heaven in a glass!!!
Hi Suzi
So glad that you like the pear liqueur so much. Well worth making during lockdown then.Cheers!
K
I made this several years ago and used your recipe. Back then, you recommended that it sit for a longer period of time. Why the change? Is one way better than the other?
Hi Becca
I first published this recipe in 2014 and have made it every year since. I always tweak my recipes over the years if I can improve them in any way and found that I could get the same result with this one by using a shorter time.
K
I get out my Squeezo and make pear sauce, just as you would apple sauce. I put it in 1-2 cup containers, and then into the freezer. For a half day of work, you’ll get the benefits all winter long! Especially good in my Butternut Soup recipe. Yum!
Have just had a preliminary taste of my pear liqueur made following this recipe, it is bloody amazing! A couple of star anise found their way into the jar along with the cinnamon and cloves. May have added a little extra something?
Hi Duncan
Sounds like you’re getting creative there. Thrilled you like the taste of the liqueur so much, cheers!
K
I have been given a lot of conference pears – you have said Williams are perfect will I get just as good as result with conference pears ?
Very nice blog and recipes. I have a quick question. For the first 2 weeks can I use a glass cookie jar where the lid does not seal? The lid it just sits ontop of the jar. The reason is I want to make a double to triple batch of this. Thank you,
John
Hi John
Wrap some clingfilm over top of jar and then add the lid. This will give you a better seal to stop air getting into the jar.
Enjoy
K x
Hi it is me again. I am so excited to try my Pear liqueur this weekend. I made a few quarts of it as I want to give some away too. My question is what do you usually do with all the lovely pears that have been sitting in the jars. Seems like such a waste to throw them out. If I eat them all that would get sloppy lol. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thank you,
John
Hi John
Try mixing the boozy pears with ‘normal’ cooked pears in a crumble or pie or just with custard as an adults only dessert.
K x
Some children don’t like the taste of booze in puddings
K
Sounds delicious Karon.
Thanks Janice
K x
I am on my last jar of pear liqueur. I am going to try my hand at cherry liqueur this weekend. The pear was a magnificent hit to all that tasted and when my pear tree blooms this year I will definitely be creating another batch and using this recipe. Thanks again for sharing.
Glad the pear liqueur was such a success, try the cherry brandy.
All best
K x
Glad the recipe was so good and you’ll be trying more of them.
K
Hi there,
I made your pear liqueur last fall, went to mexico for 2 months, came home and enjoyed it immensely with Prosecco, or in my Pimm’s #1 and ginger ale. I will be making a much larger quantity this year as it tasted delicious and was the most beautiful brandy color. Thank you so much !!!
Glad it was such a success for you.
K x
Glad the recipe was such a success for you.
K
For the nutmeg, how do you break it into fourths?
you grate it
K x
What do i do if i dont have whole nutmeg or cardomon
You can’t use the ground variety I’m afraid
K
I noticed someone further up the list of comments asked if Conference pears would be ok to use for this lovely stuff… but there was no answer posted. So I would like to ask this question myself, as this is what I have to use.. I’m very keen to try this this year as my pear tree is laden!!
I Look forward to hearing your answer!
You can use any pears you like
K x
You state to use 1/4 nutmeg, but then you state to grate a nutmeg to get the 1/4 but that you can’t use ground. There must be some language difference; grate does not equal ground? Do you smash one whole nutmeg and then approximate what 1/4 of the it would be using the pieces? Please clarify how you get 1/4 of a whole nutmeg. Thank you.
Just use ground stuff 1/4 tsp
K
So disappointed.! I just strained my liqueur mixture after weeks of diligently tipping everydau. The color is gorgeous but it tastes like turpentine! Could I add some simple syrup or something to salvage my endeavor? Or any other ideas?
Never had this problem. Yes maybe add some simple syrup to sweeten things up a bit.
K x
I have a pair tree in my garden and I have just picked 12 big food bags full of pairs! (28th August 2017)
I would like to make this liqueur for Christmas presents. Is it a maximum of 2 months you can leave it or can you leave it longer? Would it be ok to make it now and do as directed the first 2 weeks then leave until Christmas?
yes that sounds fine
K x
Hello, I currently have a pear sitting in a sealed glass jar of vodka. It’s been in there for a week but it has turned very brown already and I just wanted to check if this is what should happen or has my batch somehow been spoiled. The brown started as little pin pricks where I pierced the pear skin but it has now spread all over even though the pear is completely submerged.
It should still be fine, its the pear flavour you are getting in the liqueur, you’ll be getting rid of pear itself.
Mine did that too. I just strained it yesterday and threw outtue pear. The Liqueur tastes wonderful!
As long as it tastes good.
K x
Cocktail recipe ideas? I made several batches of this and have one week left till it’s ready. I’m not sure how to serve this.
Just serve chilled in small glass as a liqueur.
K x
Yes just use Everclear, we don’t get that here.
K x
What is everclear?
do not know what you are talking about
Don’t know what you are talking about
yes use Everclear.
What is the shelf life after it’s completely done? Thanks
will keep for up to a year
K x
I am so very excited to try this. Can I store it in mason jars or would a jar with a stopper be better? And what is the difference between using a rubber stopper and a cork stopper? And thank you for sharing this recipe!
Toni
I use jars with the rubber ring around stopper so I can shake the jar and not get wet! Corks have a tendancy to come out.
k x
You can also get white plastic lids for mason jars. You don’t have to worry about rust or corrosion with them. Any hardware store should carry them along side mason jars.
I’m excited . . . at the ‘sugar adding stage’ and 5 ounces seems like a lot but will go with the recipe as none of the comments addressed this. However, for future consideration, would less sugar create a dryer liqueur? Going into the dark tonight for 6 weeks and then prep for the holiday giving. Using our wonderful seckel pears!
The sugar is your sweetener so less is fine but if you cut it out altogether you get a infusion not a liqueur. I find this amount works well for this recipe, it’s up to you.
K x
Wonderful! I made this recipe 25 yrs ago when it was called “St. Valentine pear liquor”. Lost the recipe,and since it was pre-google, I was never able to find it until now, when I recently found a bottle of the original I made “25 years ago!!!”. It has been sitting undisturbed for all that time and is absolutely fantastic! So now, thanks to google, pinterest and your recipe, I can make more. YaY!
Glad you have found an old favourite here.
K x
I’ve made other liqueurs before (50+ blueberry bushes and many fruit trees! I’m wondering if I could use stevia for the sweetner or if the sugar provides some sort of necessary chemical reaction. It sure would be dandy if I didn’t have to use sugar….
Hi Barbara
I haven’t tried it using Stevia but I’m sure it would work
K x
I made some pear Liqueur several years ago. I had forgotten about it and it is still steeping. One of the bottles still has the cut up pears in it. Is it safe at this point to strain all the bottles and consume? Thanks for your help.
Hi Susan
Yes just double strain through kitchen paper or cheesecloth. With the pears being in there so long there will be lots of tiny fibres so extra straining will be important.
K x
I love this!! How awesome that you guys made this yourselves!
Hi Karon. I’m about to try your recipe, but am confused about the overall timing. Though it’s stated in the intro that “This liqueur takes a total of 2 months to mature”, I’m only seeing 4 weeks in the actual recipe: 2 weeks in light with everything but sugar, then 2 weeks in dark with sugar added, then strain and consume. I’m hoping closer to the 4 weeks so that I can still make Christmas (I’ll apparently miss Thanksgiving), but can you please clarify?
And thank you for providing this recipe with what I consider to be a relatively small amount of sugar (I was about to try another with 1:1 sugar:liquor).
Hi Robert,
When I first did this one years ago I gave it the longer time but have since discovered that the four weeks is enough. I updated the recipe a wee while ago but must’ve forgotten to change everything, will do so now. Thanks for pointing it out.
K x
Hello from Chile, I am so glad to have found this recipe. My pear tree is loaded with good looking pears that will be ready for harvest in about a month. I can’t wait. Thanks.
Hi Ivette
Lucky you with all those lovely pears. Try my pear jam and spread too.
K
The best..!!!
Hi Lillian
Thanks so much. Glad you like it so much
K
Hello! I prepped my pears last fall and just got around to bottling the liqueur (ten months later!) – it is insanely good and a beautiful colour. I can’t imagine how much I will enjoy this with a dessert cake! I do have a question however; I forgot to strain the liquid before bottling. Should I make the effort to strain it? What is the purpose of straining it? There aren’t really any pieces floating about.
Thank you so much for this gem of a recipe! I cannot wait to share it with my family and friends.
Hi Ulla
So thrilled that you like the pear liqueur so much. I love it. Anyway the straining is because although you can hardly see litte bits in it there can be tiny fibres and over time these fall to the bottom and make the liqueur cloudy. It is entirely up to you whether you strain it or not. It is hardly much effort really.
K
Hi Karon, thank you for your recipe. This is my first ever attempt in making a liqueur and I needed to get some clarification. I have followed the recipe exactly and have completed the first nine steps. I had the liqueur sitting for ONE week on a sunny window sill. Then I added the sugar and left it for another ONE week in a dry, cool place, shaking it every day. So its been 14 days now, and tomorrow Im scheduled to do Step 10, which involves straining the liqueur and pouring it into the bottles. I noticed in the comments that it said 4 weeks is good enough for the waiting period. Does this mean I wait another 2 weeks before I can drink it or have I made a mistake somewhere along the line? Thank you in advance for your input. Kind regards, Ekaterini
Hi Ekaterini
Please just follow the recipe not the comments. I originally did this post in 2015 and I left the liqueur for longer. Nowadays I only wait for one week on the windowsil and one week more in cupboard. You can leave it for longer if you like but it works just fine with this shorter time. Hope this explains things for you.
All best
K
Hi Karon,
Thank you for the recipe – sounds really great! (I’m just approaching the end of week 1 at the moment). I was also a bit confused like Ekaterini above – the actual text still says:
-Set on a sunny windowsill for 1 week. It looks rather pretty so is no hardship to have around!
-After 2 weeks (!) open the jar and add the sugar
-Shake well and set aside in a cool dark cupboard for a further week…
So it’s good to know it’s indeed 1 week in the sun and 1 week in the cupboard. Perhaps it’s worth correcting the typo in the text?
Thanks again!
Andy
Thanks Andy
I had already updated the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post. Just forgotten to amend the wording in the post. Done it now.
K
Just filtered and bottled my first bottle of liqueur with Williams Pears. Had a taste as is and and also chiiled with a bit of ice. Absolutely delicious. Fingers crossed it lasts till christmas now!
Hi there,
so thrilled that you made my pear liqueur and like it so much. it’ll be great at Christmas!
K
why is my whole pear, that is in the vodka and fully cover, turning brown? is this okay or have a just wasted a lot of vodka
Hi Elaine
Don’t panic, you are not going to be eating the pear you are sieving it out and saving the liqueur so you haven’t wasted any vodka. Hang in there it will be fine.
K
Hi,
I’ve done this and am approaching the end of the second week so it’s almost ready. For some silly reason I didn’t put the rubber stopper on the jar so every time I’ve been shaking the jar the vodka has been dripping out a bit. I’m a novice! Due to this the pear is now not fully submerged in the vodka. Have I turned it bad? Should I put the jar in the fridge? My partner says she won’t drink it!
Hi James
Don’t panic, just top up with a little more vodka to cover the pear.It’ll will be fine
K
Thank you!
cheers!
Okay, as per usual, since I am a visual person I just added all of the ingredients in the jar and put it in the window sill! And then I read the recipe. I noticed it says to put the sugar in after a week of the pear steeping in the vodka. Oops! Have I ruined it?
Hi Terry
It will be fine don’t worry.
cheers!
K
Made this pear liqueur and bottled it yesterday. It’s perfect, but won’t last till Christmas, so I’ll have to make more!
We have just eaten the vodka-soaked pear with vanilla ice-cream – absolutely delicious (waste not, want not).
I also have your Christmas liqueur maturing in the garage…
Hi there
So glad you liked the pear liqueur so much. Once you get started on it there is no chance of it lasting for long. Cheers!
If I try this again, I’ll halve the quantity of cloves.
Hi Neile
Glad you liked the recipe and will try it again. Everything is a matter of taste, that’s just the amount of cloves that I use and like. Luckily we are all different or life would be very dull.
K
I made this recipe a number of years ago and have just revisited it this year. It made a lovely toast on Christmas eve. Thank you for sharing all of your wonderful recipes!
Hi Michelle
Thanks so much for letting me know that my pear liqueur is so popular with you.
Cheers!
K
Just found a batch of this pear liquor that I made about 4 or 5 years ago! Would it still be good? It’s been a cool, dark place, never been opened.
Hi Karen
Mine has never been hanging around for four years always snaffled long before that. Sniff and taste that should tell you if it’s okay to drink.
K
This looks lovely! I can almost taste summer! Why the whole pear pierced and not chop or half them?
Hi Tamara
This is an old French recipe and this is how it is traditionally made
K
Hi, do you have to decant after two weeks? Would it matter if you left the jar with the pear in for months rather than weeks? Thanks.
Hi Michele
You can leave it longer but it will disintegrate and you will get a lot of sediment in your liqueur even after straining. It’s up to you.
K
LIttle sensitive to cloves, and always add less than half to recipes. Think I will try replacing cloves with i/2 a scraped vanilla bean. Let you know…
Thanks! There’s an abandoned pear tree I raid for windfalls every year in the fall!
Hi Lorelei
I’m sure it will be lovely with vanilla instead of cloves.
K
My pears don’t fit I. My jars whole, can I cut them?
Hi Christine
This is the way I always do this pear liqueur recipe, it’s an old French way and the pears must be whole. You could try cutting them but you’ll find they disintegrate very quickly. You’ll have to make sure you strain the liqueur thoroughly to remove tiny pieces of sediment.
K
Hi, I have decided to make two batches, one with caster sugar and the second with “Demerara Brown Sugar” as I thought that might be richer with a deeper flavour. Has anyone tried that please?
Hi Dave
I’ve made this liqueur with all sorts of sugar and dark sugar works well with a more caramel richer flavour. hope you enjoy it.
K
Hi Karen, also can I ask please… Why do you add the sugar one week later? Why not add everything all at once and let it all mingle with an occasional stir or shake to disturb and help dissolve the sugar? Or… Add the sugar to the vodka, stir until dissolved then add the rest and just leave to stand… Would that work as well please? And… Great recipe, just started, can’t wait the two weeks aaaaargh. Thank you. Dave.
Hi Dave
With trial and error this is just the way I find it works best for me. I don’t shake this one up like other liqueurs as I don’t want to break up the pear any more than it does naturally. Try it any way you like this is just how I do it and love the results. Hope you enjoy it.
K
Thank you for your replies Karen. Last night Wed 1.12 I prepared my mixtures in two jars with all the ingredients except for sugar, it looked yuk, HOWEVER… This morning it had already started to have nice clear autumnal colour and looked very nice. One pear was not completely submerged so I opened the jar to push it down . GEE! it smelled fantastic in just 14 hours or so! Next Wed’ I’ll add caster sugar to one jar and demerara to the other and compare the taste a week later. Thank you TWICE Karen, once for answering my questions and second for this great recipe that I stumbled upon purely by chance. Thanks again. Dave.
Hi Dave
Glad you are enjoying this kitchen crafting experiment so much. Hope you enjoy the hooch when it’s ready.
K
I was so excited to make this recipe but I added the sugar with all ingredients instead of waiting the suggested week to add sugar. Have I ruined the liqueur?
Hi Anna
Don’t panic. It should be fine. I just do it this way as it’s a very old French method and I like it.
Merry Christmas
K
Thank you for your prompt reply. You are right-I panicked a little (lol). Thank you for your labor of love in sharing recipes with the global community. I am a newbie apple and pear farmer and I love finding new recipes to use our fresh fruit.
Glad to be of help. How lovely farming apples and pears. I have a few recipes for both, just type in the word apple or pear in search box and all those recipes will come up for you.
K
Karen I have been using the recipe from your site for years now. The old recipe called for 2 weeks in sun, add sugar, and 6 weeks in a dark closet. I am still following those guidelines and feel the extra time really helps bring out the flavors. My question, what is the best way to get the juice from the pear into the liquor? I am thinking food processor and cheese cloth, but I would like to squeeze the goodness out of them? Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thank you,
John
Hi John
I tweak and change my recipes over the years as I find improvements as I make them. Use the old timings if you prefer, I find the new ones just as good. You leave the pear, you do not process it or anything. Just follow the recipe. If you use a processor you will get cloudy liqueur.
K
I can’t wait to try this! I have a large glass French press. I’m thinking about putting the discarded pear in it and pressing it to get the final liquid out to put back into the liqueur, do think that will work?
Hi Jane
Do NOT press the pear, you will get all the fibres. If you do this you will have to strain numerous times through muslin/coffee filter to remove the tiny fibres. They make no difference to taste of the liqueur but make it a tad cloudy.
K
My family LOVES this pear liquor! I get lots of “bribes” now for a Christmas bottle 😉 Thanks!
Hi Lisa
Great to hear that the pear liqueur recipe is such a hit with your family and friends
K
This sounds like just the thing I was looking for. A windy evening broke a heavily laden branch of one of our pear trees. The pears are not ripe (perhaps 1/2 the size they’d normally be, and it’s just the end of July). You say that the pears used in this recipe need to be ripe. If I were to use my fallen pears, would I need to soften them in some way or could I macerate them in the alcohol as per your recipe do you think?
Hi Suzanne
Pear has to be ripe and juicy to make this liqueur. So maybe put some pears in brown paper bag to ripen them up first. Sorry to hear about the wind damage to your pear tree,
K
In my haste this year I have added the sugar and all of the ingredients. Can this be salvaged or do I have to scrap the whole batch?
Hi John
It should be fine, don’t worry
Cheers!
Karon
As always thank you for the fast reply. I love all your recipes and being a kieffer pear tree owner I make this every year and have quite a following. My other 2 go to recipes are the candycane gin and blackberry apple gin which are simply AMAZING!
Thanks again,
John
Thanks John,
Great to know you like my recipes so much.
Cheers!
K
last Saturday at a Christmas party where we were requested to take something Christmassy along, I took along your stunning Pear Liqueur which I’d made approximately 2 months ago only straining on the day. I won the drinks prize with it! It’s a lovely drink, Thank you.
Suzanne Le Brocq.
Hi Suzanne
Well done on winning the drinks prize. So pleased everyone liked my pear liqueur so much. Merry Christmas.
K
I would like to know if I can use a gallon jar to make pear liquor and only fill the jar partially full with ingredients. Will the air at the top of the jar cause a problem as long as jar is sealed?
Hi Kandy
I say in the recipe to use a jar where the pear fits snugly so using a big jar as you suggested wouldn’t work as you’d allow too much air in there.
K