Larder Love

Easy real food recipes and preserves from the heart of the home

  • HOME
  • ABOUT ME
    • PRIVACY POLICY
  • MY BOOKS
  • MY RECIPES
  • RESOURCES
  • CHAT
    • Travel
  • WRITING
  • CONTACT

Pear Liqueur

By Karon Grieve 53 Comments

pear liqueur

Don’t you love the fruits of Autumn – pears, apples, plums and rich fruits that speak of comfort, coziness and snuggling up by the fire on long winter nights.

These fruits pack a punch of flavour in their raw form and also transfer this beautifully to alcohol when allowed to steep over time.

Drinks and liqueurs made from fruits make wonderful gifts especially at Christmas time. Starting now means that you can have time on your side – flavours will merge and strengthen and character develop all while you do nothing at all. A win, win situation if ever there was one!

This pear liqueur is a perfect example.

pear liqueur

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.

This liqueur takes a total of 4 weeks to mature so now is the time to get started if you want to present it as a gorgeous gift at Christmas time.

pear liqueur

Pear Liqueur

Ingredients;

  • 1 large pear the William variety is perfect for this
  • 1/2 cinnamon stick
  • 1/4 nutmeg broken into small pieces
  • 2 strips of dried orange peel
  • 6 cloves
  • 500ml vodka
  • 150g/5oz caster sugar

How to make pear liqueur;

  • 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 2 weeks. 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 2 weeks 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 at your leasure

Pear liqueur is wonderful serve really chilled after a meal or used as part of a martini at cocktail hour. It makes a great foodie gift too, so make some for Christmas hampers and get ahead with your festive preparations.

Cheers!

Karon x

Print Recipe
4.88 from 8 votes

Pear Liqueur

Prep Time10 mins
Total Time10 mins
Course: liqueurs
Author: Karon Grieve

Ingredients

  • 1 large pear the William variety is perfect for this
  • 1/2 cinnamon stick
  • 1/4 nutmeg broken into small pieces
  • 2 strips of dried orange peel
  • 6 cloves
  • 500 ml vodka
  • 150 g/5oz 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 2 weeks. 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 2 weeks 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 at your leasure

PIN ME FOR LATER

pear liqueur by larderlove

 

 

Pear Liqueur on Punk Domestics

Related posts:

Vin D'Orange And Gourmet Gifts For Christmas
Plum And Walnut Jam
Blackcurrant Vodka
QUICK PRESERVED LEMONS
Share some Larder Love...Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Email this to someone
email

Filed Under: Christmas, Drinks Tagged With: christmas foodie gifts, foodie gifts, liqueurs, pears

« Raita Dip
LABNEH IN HERB OIL »
My New Bookette Naughty And Nice Edible Gifts For Christmas
BASIL LEMONADE
MINI MINCE PIES
Kirstie's Handmade Christmas

Comments

  1. susan says

    September 29, 2015 at 1:37 pm

    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 ?

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      September 30, 2015 at 11:56 am

      Hi Susan
      Yes just multiply the quantities and it should work out fine.
      K x

      Reply
  2. Jacqui says

    October 3, 2015 at 5:15 pm

    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 ?

    Reply
  3. John Covino says

    November 6, 2015 at 2:40 pm

    5 stars
    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

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      November 8, 2015 at 11:23 am

      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

      Reply
  4. John says

    January 12, 2016 at 1:49 pm

    5 stars
    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

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      January 13, 2016 at 7:53 am

      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

      Reply
  5. Janice says

    April 2, 2016 at 9:23 pm

    4 stars
    Sounds delicious Karon.

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      April 17, 2016 at 1:05 pm

      Thanks Janice
      K x

      Reply
  6. John Covino says

    June 7, 2016 at 8:49 pm

    5 stars
    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.

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      June 20, 2016 at 5:56 pm

      Glad the pear liqueur was such a success, try the cherry brandy.
      All best
      K x

      Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      July 28, 2016 at 9:26 am

      Glad the recipe was so good and you’ll be trying more of them.
      K

      Reply
  7. holly dickens says

    July 3, 2016 at 7:35 pm

    5 stars
    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 !!!

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      July 28, 2016 at 9:22 am

      Glad it was such a success for you.
      K x

      Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      July 28, 2016 at 9:25 am

      Glad the recipe was such a success for you.
      K

      Reply
  8. Katie says

    August 14, 2016 at 6:08 pm

    For the nutmeg, how do you break it into fourths?

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      August 23, 2016 at 7:20 pm

      you grate it
      K x

      Reply
  9. pat loidolt says

    September 17, 2016 at 12:51 am

    What do i do if i dont have whole nutmeg or cardomon

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      September 23, 2016 at 8:52 am

      You can’t use the ground variety I’m afraid
      K

      Reply
  10. Fiona Willetts says

    October 3, 2016 at 2:37 pm

    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!

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      October 12, 2016 at 12:47 pm

      You can use any pears you like
      K x

      Reply
  11. David Kramer says

    November 14, 2016 at 5:35 am

    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.

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      November 25, 2016 at 9:38 am

      Just use ground stuff 1/4 tsp
      K

      Reply
  12. Diane Kern says

    November 17, 2016 at 5:31 am

    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?

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      November 25, 2016 at 9:35 am

      Never had this problem. Yes maybe add some simple syrup to sweeten things up a bit.
      K x

      Reply
  13. Becky says

    August 28, 2017 at 12:48 pm

    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?

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      September 4, 2017 at 9:22 am

      yes that sounds fine
      K x

      Reply
  14. Mary McGrory says

    October 24, 2017 at 7:35 am

    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.

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      November 23, 2017 at 8:22 am

      It should still be fine, its the pear flavour you are getting in the liqueur, you’ll be getting rid of pear itself.

      Reply
    • Erika H says

      December 17, 2017 at 3:34 am

      Mine did that too. I just strained it yesterday and threw outtue pear. The Liqueur tastes wonderful!

      Reply
      • Karon Grieve says

        December 20, 2017 at 3:12 pm

        As long as it tastes good.
        K x

        Reply
  15. Josie says

    December 9, 2017 at 3:00 am

    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.

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      December 20, 2017 at 3:14 pm

      Just serve chilled in small glass as a liqueur.
      K x

      Reply
  16. Karon Grieve says

    January 24, 2018 at 11:46 am

    Yes just use Everclear, we don’t get that here.
    K x

    Reply
    • Fiona says

      September 11, 2018 at 1:48 pm

      What is everclear?

      Reply
      • Karon Grieve says

        September 17, 2018 at 4:39 pm

        do not know what you are talking about

        Reply
      • Karon Grieve says

        September 17, 2018 at 4:46 pm

        Don’t know what you are talking about

        Reply
  17. Karon Grieve says

    January 24, 2018 at 11:58 am

    yes use Everclear.

    Reply
  18. Bea says

    May 28, 2018 at 12:22 am

    What is the shelf life after it’s completely done? Thanks

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      May 29, 2018 at 1:22 pm

      will keep for up to a year
      K x

      Reply
  19. Toni says

    September 4, 2018 at 11:12 pm

    5 stars
    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

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      September 17, 2018 at 4:42 pm

      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

      Reply
  20. Robert Ross says

    October 2, 2018 at 12:46 am

    5 stars
    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!

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      October 7, 2018 at 10:53 am

      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

      Reply
  21. eliz says

    April 1, 2019 at 1:39 am

    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!

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      April 9, 2019 at 9:49 am

      Glad you have found an old favourite here.
      K x

      Reply
  22. Barbara Simoes says

    June 16, 2019 at 6:24 pm

    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….

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      June 17, 2019 at 8:21 am

      Hi Barbara
      I haven’t tried it using Stevia but I’m sure it would work
      K x

      Reply
  23. Susan says

    August 17, 2019 at 9:48 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      October 1, 2019 at 9:52 am

      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

      Reply
  24. ETHER says

    October 5, 2019 at 4:38 pm

    5 stars
    I love this!! How awesome that you guys made this yourselves!

    Reply
  25. Robert Lane says

    November 4, 2019 at 3:19 pm

    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).

    Reply
    • Karon Grieve says

      November 5, 2019 at 9:43 am

      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

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Newsletter signup

Get my weekly blog post round-up email.

please wait

Thank you for joining larder Love

 

Karon Grieve
Visit Us On YoutubeVisit Us On TwitterVisit Us On FacebookVisit Us On PinterestVisit Us On Instagram

Categories

SEARCH MY SITE

Popular Posts

  • blackberry and apple gin How To Make Blackberry And Apple Gin
  • cranberry and orange marmalade Cranberry And Orange Marmalade
  • pear liqueur Pear Liqueur
my foodgawker gallery

MY BOOKS

Karon Grieve books

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright Karon Grieve - Larder Love © 2018. All Rights Reserved.