Tag Archives: culinary

Countdown to Halloween: (#3) The Old Fashioned Red Candied Pear

Jenny By on

Back when your great grand-pappy was a kid, trudging twenty-five miles to school everyday in the snow after rising from his cot at 3:15 a.m. and putting in a full day’s work, they didn’t have fancy things like “caramel” or “microwaves.”  No sirree, they cooked up sugar, corn syrup, water and food coloring to make old fashioned candied apples and pears.  If they were feeling wild, they might have added a touch of cinnamon flavoring. I personally wanted to leave this particular tradition in the past, but Alexa insisted we take a trip down memory lane and I obliged due to the fact that we were turning her new condo into a candied pear factory. The candied pears actually turned out  gorgeous, and don’t taste too shabby either!  Here’s what you do to make old fashioned candied pears:  Combine 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup corn syrup, 1/3 cup Continue reading →

The Countdown Continues: (#4) The Vanilla Salted Caramel Pear

Jenny By on

One of our favorite foodie trends happening now is the use of exotic finishing salts.  In Portland, we are lucky enough to have “The Meadow,” a shop that specializes in these special gourmet salts from around the world.  (Click here to read a recent article in The Oregonian about the virtues of gourmet artisan sea salts.   I promise you’ll never look at regular table salt the same again). If you’re paying attention, you’ve surely noticed that sea-salted chocolate-covered caramels are gaining popularity with chocolatiers.  I personally think it’s a great combo and figure that if chocolate, caramel and salt taste great together, why not pears, caramel and salt? So I called The Meadow and they immediately recommended “Taha’a Vanilla,” a coarse finishing salt that, as the name suggests, fuses vanilla into Pure Halen Môn sea salt.  I rushed right over, Continue reading →

A Pear in Provence

Amy Kweller MS, RD By on

This month, while traveling through the Provence region of France, specifically the Côtes du Rhône wine region, I had the opportunity to taste magnificent food, delicate wines, and absorb the gourmet culture of the French countryside. There, the French have a particular way of enjoying life: fresh fruits and vegetables from open air markets, a healthy dose of wine, and a slower pace. The climate is perfect for growing Mediterranean fruits – warm, fairly dry, and sun-baked. Provençal wines are frequently paired with fruits grown in the region – pears, melons, apricots, etc. Pairing fruit with wine has been a worldwide tradition for centuries; pears, for instance, are a nice combination with red, white, or rosé wines, and are exceptionally pleasant matched with dessert wines. In addition to the benefit for your palate, a moderate amount of wine has particular Continue reading →

A Gift From Our Pear-loving Peanut Pals

Jenny By on

We went to the PMA (Produce Marketing Association) foodservice show a couple of weeks ago in beautiful Monterey, California, and boy was it grand.  Imagine a sea of colorful fruit, veggie and nut-themed booths with friendly people in them who are all giving away tasty treats featuring their produce – everything from guacamole, to fruit smoothies, salads, chocolate covered fruit – you name it, and I was one of those friendly people!   We were right in the middle of all the action with our fancy new USA Pears booth, handing out our delectable cupcakes. Ah yes, it was a produce dream-world of magic.  Among my favorite booths was the National Peanut Board’s.  They were serving up a super-delicious pear and peanut smoothie, and were kind enough to share their recipe with us.  So enjoy this refreshing and slightly exotic-tasting drink, and be sure to visit Continue reading →

Joy to the World

Jenny By on

Need a break from your work day?    Here’s a little piece of advice.  Pay a quick electronic visit to one of the best food blogs I’ve seen,  Joy the Baker.  Joy the Baker is…well, a baker from Los Angeles who dreams up amazing recipes, takes drop-dead gorgeous photos, and consequently has an extremely loyal following.  Let’s put it this way, she can take a photo of a random pile of chopped nuts and make it look like a work of art.  Her recipes range from the simply-sweet Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies, to one-of-a-kind creations like “Peabody’s Grandmother’s Lime Conspiracy Pie with marshmallows,” to the mouthwateringly beautiful “Pear Spice Cake with Walnut Praline Topping.”  So with Joy’s permission, we’re pleased to bring you this recipe from her incredible repertoire! Pear Spice Cake with Walnut Praline Topping      adapted from Gourmet, December 1992 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 Continue reading →

Tears for Pears: A Recap of Our Student Chef Competition

Jenny By on

Taste.  Texture.  Creativity.  Originality.  Appearance.  Oh and one more very important thing:  Prominent Use of Fresh USA Pears.  These were the criteria our three culinary student finalists were judged on last week as they traveled from their respective citites to Portland to vie for first place in the USA Pears Student Culinary Competition.  After receiving entries from around the country, we narrowed down the entrants to three student rockstars:    Dallas Hinesly from Texas Culinary Acadamy in Austin, Texas, who submitted “Sweet Potato and Pear Gnocchi with Grilled Pork and a Balsamic Pear Glaze”   Nicole Mau from South Seattle Community College in Seattle, Washington, who submitted “Red Anjou Poire Frite”     Andrea Howard from Florida Culinary Institute in West Palm Beach, Florida, who submitted “Pear Risotto & Pear Poached in Red Wine”   Here’s how it went down: In the Continue reading →