Sweet Pear William

Diana Henry demonstrates how to make pear flavoured vodka.

Sweet pear William

Putting a golden pear in a glass jar, covering it with clear liquid, then looking at it, magnified by the glass, seems such a magical thing to do.

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Ingredients

Fills 1 x 1.2 litre (2 pint) jar

1 ripe Williams pear

1 cinnamon stick

½ whole nutmeg

1 piece organic orange zest (without any white pith)

800 ml (1 pint 7 fl oz) vodka or eau de vie

225g (8oz) caster sugar

Preparation method

Put the pear into a large preserving jar with the cinnamon, nutmeg and orange zest. Pour over the alcohol. Leave on a windowsill for about a month.

Now add the sugar, shake and reseal. Leave for four months before you try it, shaking from time to time. You can leave it for more than a year; it just gets more mature and delicious.

How to use

You can obviously just drink this neat, but it's also delicious added to whipped cream to eat with pear or apple tarts, or baked fruit.

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