STEEMIT CULINARY CHALLENGE # 35: Roasted Summer Pear Sorbet with Wild Blackberries and Mint - 100% Free from the Homestead!
It's simple, it's free, and it's delicious! Roasted pears, churned and frozen, with wild blackberries and spearmint. All grown right here at Haphazard Homestead.
Pears in July? Yes! With the Bella di Giugno pear, I can have ripe pears in July in Oregon. In a hot year, I have even picked them by late June. They are a pretty little pear, only about 3 inches long.
But they don't taste that good eaten fresh, right off the tree. They are bland, not very sweet, and almost mealy. I was disappointed in this earliest ripening pear, until I discovered the perfect way to use it. I slow roast them! Those roasted pears make an incredibly rich sorbet, with no added ingredients at all. Here's how.
- Step 1. Peel and core the little pears. I put the pears in water to keep them from turning brown.
- Step 2. Roast the pears in the over at 350 F degrees for 20-30 minutes, until they turn brown. Those pears are now super soft and super sweet!
- Step 3. In a food processor, churn the pears until it's all a soft, creamy texture.
- Step 4. Spoon into molds. I'm using small Jello molds from many decades ago. Put them into a freezer overnight.
To serve the pear sorbet, take the frozen pears out of the mold. It helps to dip the mold into hot water for several seconds. I surround the sorbet with wild blackberries and fresh spearmint that I foraged in my yard. That's it!
This is simple food. But it is delicious food! The roasted pears have a sweet, rich, carmelized pear flavor that is perfectly offset with the tart, yet sweet, juicy blackberries. The added touch of spearmint is just right for a little spark of brightness.
=================================
What Do You Think?
If you have a early season pear or apple that doesn't taste that good, I hope you try roasting the fruit. It makes such an incredible difference.
As a fresh pear, the Bella di Giugno is a disappointment. But as a Roasted Pear, it makes a restaurant quality, super summer sorbet!
- Have you ever been disappointed in a variety of fruit that you have grown?
- What's the earliest you have harvested pears in your area?
- Do you like wild blackberries?
- Would you try my Roasted pear sorbet with the big blackberries?
Thanks to @woman-onthe-wing, @gringalicious, @englishtchrivy, @sirwinchester, and our judge for this challenge, @rouketas! The Culinary Challenge is a great Steemit tradition and I appreciate you all keeping it going strong!
You made the right process to have a tastier pear @haphazard-hstead, by roasting it in the oven will for sure make it taste better!
Simple recipe but very tasty accompanied with those gorgeous blackberries!
Cheers
@progressivechef
Could I also dehydrate them in the oven or in the dehydrator for taste enhancement @progressivechef and @haphazard-hstead?!
In the oven will give you a quicker results and dehydrator will surely take longer! And the roasted taste you will get with the oven only!
I agree with @progressivechef. The slow roasting brings out all the sweetness and carmelizes them for a rich flavor. These pears would be good dehydrated, but they would need some additional flavoring, because they are bland on their own. I've got Bartlett pears that get ripe in early September that are perfect for dehydrating -- they are soft like butter and so, so flavorful and sweet. I dry a lot of them! Hope that helps!
They taste delicious this way! I am a simple cook, so I'm glad I figured this out last year. Now I look forward to there pears and use them all this way. The wild blackberries here are better than the domestic ones - they are so huge and sweet!
Great idea for a sorbet @haphazard-hstead
I can buy some pears over here and roast it to be churned and make me some too. Thanks.
Thanks, @cryptopie! This is easy to make. And even a pear that isn't very sweet when it is raw, tastes so good when it is slowly roasted like this. And there's no added sugar at all!
Yes that is one healthy sorbet.
I could do that and will be a real treat!
looks great, your making me hungry!!
That's my plan, lol! I hope you can enjoy some pears and blackberries this summer and fall!
I love this recipe! And the fact that you grew all of the produce yourself is incredible! Really glad I saw this! I support organic, local foods. And I'm realizing more and more that one of the best ways to do this is to grow everything myself. I've started my own garden, but I'd say I'm a novice homesteader at best, but a homesteader nevertheless. I live out in the country, and I'm trying to move more towards a self-sustained lifestyle. So we'll see how it goes. I've followed you and think that I'll find your posts very useful :D
Thanks! It's nice being able to eat from my yard. You should be able to grow a lot, or have it grow around you, at your place in Ontario! With all that acreage, you are bound to have a lot of wild food there already! Fruit and nut trees, and small fruits, are some of the best returns on your effort. They don't ask for much care, if you have the right kinds of plants or varieties. Enjoy all that countryside! :D
Good point! I've started with some raspberry and blueberries bushes and lettuce, but I had not though of nut trees. I'll have to look into this more but looks like I can grow almond and hazelnut trees based on my research, which is very exciting :)Thanks!
My stomach began to growl. So all tastes good.
Thanks! I hope you can have some pear sorbet from pears in your region, too! :D
That looks delicious. We get truck loads of wild blackberries here (probably another 4 weeks yet) - although our pear trees are having a bad year.
Planted another 5 pear trees this year, so hopefully in 3 or 4 years we will start to have more pear abundance.
You will have a lot of pears! My Bartlett pear doesn't have many on it this year, either. It's funny how every year is different - and some varieties seem so much more sensitive to the weather than others. Here's to a good blackberry season for you, too. Our wild blackberries are just cranking up. They are such aggressive and invasive plants, but they taste so good! :D
I waaaant!!!!
Haha, thanks!
You honestly can't get more pure than this! I loooove it! Sadly, our blackberry season has come and gone. I have acouple gallons frozen, but this treat needs fresh. Next season ;0)
Thanks! It's simple, alright, but so good! I'm glad you have a couple gallons of blackberries in your freezer! They are so good, anytime. But you are right, that this dish needs those fresh ones. It's incredible how good the wild blackberries are here in Oregon's Willamette Valley right now!
Looks great, my only personal note would be...I HATE picking blackberry seeds out of my teeth for days after a meal like that.
That can be a downside of blackberries! But I like them too much to be bothered by it. There are so many of them growing wild around here.
Yummy! I'm a big fan of Wild blackberries! The pear sorbet looks good, too! Oh! Really nice gardening! I love your garden! ;)
Thanks, @tangmo! It's fun eating things that are 100% from my yard, with nothing else added. I hope you can enjoy plenty of berries yourself! :D
You're welcome! Yes, I would love to enjoy plenty of berries myself! In the meantime, let me admire your garden from here! Many thanks for sharing! ;))