Spiced Asian Pear Sauce

There are benefits to having multiple random ingredients on hand.  The day I created this recipe had intended to make a batch of beet chutney. Unfortunately I was under a time constraint so the timing for that recipe wasn't going to work.  Looking around my space I spotted asian pears, ginger and vanilla.

I decided to make a sauce that could serve as a topping for pancakes or on top of ice cream.  With asian pears tendency to not break down as you cook them the sauce turned out syrupy and chunky.  Just what I was looking for.

Spiced Asian Pear Sauce

6 Asian pears, chopped

1 vanilla bean

1 inch ginger

1 C sugar/1.5C honey

2 C water

Take the ginger and peel it. The easiest way to do this I have found is with a spoon. The spoon removes the skin quickly and without taking off excessive amounts of the ginger itself.  Slice the ginger.

Place the sweetener and water in a small cook pot. Add the sliced ginger and the vanilla bean.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 15-20 mins.  Remove the ginger and vanilla bean.  Split the vanilla bean and scrap the seeds into the syrup.  Chop the ginger and place in the syrup.  If you want a milder sauce use less of the chopped ginger or even none.  This will allow you to get the flavor of the ginger without biting down into a chunk of ginger.

Bring the syrup to a simmer and add the pears.  Cook until the syrup thickens and the pears soften. Approximately 20 mins.  Place in sterile jar and process for 10 mins.  Enjoy