A Pear Tree

Do you like pears? I’m not a huge pear person…I don’t like them dried, poached, or in the canned mixed fruit, or on a plane or in a train, you get the picture. But on occasion, usually in September and October I love a really juicy pear. A really yellow, moments away form being over-ripe Bartlett. But not gritty or stringy just SO juicy that when your teeth sink into it with no resistance from flesh or fruit, juices flow down your hand and onto your wrist. Your lips glisten with a honey sweetness and the sweet smell overwhelms your senses.

Anyway, I’ve never had a Warren pear but apparently it blends the best of all its ancestors and is spectacular for baking. Its “intensely sweet, rich, spicy” flavor can’t be beat. It’s even been praised by some names we all know, Ms. Alice Waters, Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey. And between the food and retail world you have basically got all bases covered with those three. Its origins are interesting including bacterial disease, winter chill and the Seckel. The Warren pear isn’t common, one reason being that it takes 5 years for pear trees to bear fruit so growers typically stick to what they know works. But I wish more growers would! I want to try this smooth,sweet and complexly flavored fruit, claiming to have flavors with hints of guava, pineapple and honey. I think I’d eat this pear poached, in a tart or straight from the tree. Or in a box or with a fox...

To read more about the Warren pear, go here!

Taste of Fall!

Since we are talking about Florenta (see below!) I think that’s the recipe we will go with today and to make it especially fall like for the first day of the new season, Pumpkin Seed Florenta!!

1 ea 500g pouch of Florenta
1lb 4oz Pumpkin Seeds
Pinch of Salt

Method

1. In a bowl, mix all ingredients and place onto a parchment lined sheet tray making sure to bring the mixture one half inch away from all edges of the pan (to avoid washing the pan!!).

2. Bake at 375 degrees until lightly golden brown. If you want to make uniform pieces, while still hot from the oven, use a pizza wheel to cut even pieces. If you are packaging to sell on display by weight, break in rough pieces, and package in display containers. If you are feeling especially free on time, dip in white chocolate for National White Chocolate Day!!

*If you would like to do more than one bag at a time, scale each sheet tray to 2lb 5oz.

Honey, You're Sweet

Honey. An all natural sweetener that provides an energy boost, delay’s fatigue when exercising, and has one less calorie when compared gram to gram than sugar! Honey is becoming a popular restaurant ingredient as of late, but not just the standard honey bear honey, honeys that are locally grown and honeys from flowering plants that restaurants are planting for their own blends of honey resulting in amazing flavors that go beyond the typical floral and reach rich, intense flavors like chestnut, buckwheat and avocado.

So, what do you do with these honey flavors? Taste them, on their own and see what flavor tastes best to you, and start using honey! Add honey to the usual items like tea and yogurt, and then to muffins, pie, and cheeses. Offer local honey to customers to put atop slices of your freshly baked bread with some local goat cheese, in your oatmeal, cookies and quick breads. Let customers know where your honey is coming from and how to get their own and be proud to support local farmers. If you want to get a little crazier, check out the link on the honey board’s website to find specific types of honey, try a link on The Honey Board's website, the honey locator, (link at end). The Honey Board says there are more than 300 types of honey and last year we each ate 1.3 pounds of honey and there was a rise in interest in beekeeping classes. A clear sign that honey is becoming more and more important…the Culinary Institute of America held its first ever summit for chef’s, an educational seminar on honey. For more info on honey, check out all the facts on The Honey Board's website,http://www.honey.com, www.honeylocator.com http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/stew/chi-honey-lets-cooks-play-with-floraltorobust-flavors--20110830,0,5791610.story?obref=obinsite,