Poached Pears in Spice Syrup with Cinnamon Leaf Chocolate Sauce takes advantage of an ancient flavour. According to Pliny, a pound of cinnamon cost up to 300 denarii, the wages of almost a year for many workers. Emperor Nero is said to have burned a year’s worth of the city’s supply at the funeral for his wife. Both leaves and bark were used not only in religious ceremonies but also in cooking.
Indonesians transported cinnamon via a “cinnamon route” directly from the Moluccas to East Africa. Arab traders carried the spice to Alexandria in Egypt, where it was bought by Venetian traders who controlled a monopoly on the spice trade in Europe. The disruption of this trade by the rise of the Mamluk sultans and the Ottoman Empire was one of the factors that led Europeans to search for other routes to Asia.
Portuguese traders discovered Sri Lanka at the beginning of the 16th century and held the monopoly for cinnamon in what was then called Ceylon. Dutch traders finally established a trading post in 1638, and expelled the Portuguese. In 1767, Lord Brown of the East India Company established Anjarakkandy Cinnamon Estate near the town of Anjarakkandy in the Kannur district of Kerala, and this estate became Asia’s largest cinnamon producer.
For the poached pears:
500ml white wine – your favourite for drinking
500ml water, or enough to cover the fruit
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
3 cloves
1 tsp lemon zest
4 pears, peeled, with stems left intact
450g granulated sugar
Method:
Combine the white wine, water, spices and lemon zest in a large saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat and add the pears.
Poach the pears, uncovered, for 9 or 10 minutes, until they become tender, but not overcooked. (Unripe pears will take a little longer.)
Use a large slotted spoon to remove the pears from the syrup. Return the poaching liquid to a simmer, add the sugar and allow the mixture to reduce by half in volume. This will take about 10 minutes.
Remove the spices from the syrup and allow the syrup to cool.
For the sauce:
1 bar Cinnamon Leaf Chocolate
20g butter at room temperature
100ml single cream
Method:
Chop the chocolate finely and place it in a heatproof bowl.
Combine the cream and butter in a saucepan, stir with a whisk and bring to a simmer.
Still stirring with the whisk, pour the hot cream mixture onto the chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate has melted and the sauce is glossy.
To assemble:
Place a pool of chocolate sauce on 4 individual serving plates.
Dry each pear with a paper towel and dip the pear at a 45-degree angle into the remaining chocolate.
Place the pear on the serving plate and pour a little of the syrup over the side of the pear without chocolate.
Serve the Poached Pears with vanilla ice cream, garnished with a drizzle of the spiced syrup.
Recipe by Chrissie Walker © 2018