This recipe for cooking delicious pear jam with Iranian saffron poaches firm pear pieces first, then returns them to a strained saffron syrup with lemon and rosewater.
The two-stage method protects the shape of the fruit. A good Persian pear jam should contain tender pieces in clear syrup, not pear purée hidden inside a thick gel.
Pear jam ingredients
- Firm pears: 1 kilogram
- Granulated sugar: 800 grams
- Cold water: enough for the acidulated bowl
- Fresh water: enough to cover the pears for poaching
- Vinegar: 1/3 cup
- Finely ground saffron: 1/2 teaspoon
- Rosewater: 3 tablespoons
- Fresh lemon juice: 2 tablespoons
Prepare an acidulated bowl
Fill a large bowl with enough cold water to cover the cut pears and stir in the 1/3 cup of vinegar. This is a preparation bath, not the jam syrup.
Work with one pear at a time so the exposed flesh spends as little time in the air as possible.
Peel, core and cut the pears
Peel the 1 kilogram of pears, cut them into halves or thick wedges and remove the cores and seeds. Place each finished piece straight into the vinegar water so it does not darken while you prepare the rest.
The earlier directions repeated “peel a squash” three times. The ingredient list and the following anti-browning step make the intended ingredient clear: peel, core and cut the pears.
Choose fruit that is firm-ripe. Very hard pears take too long to soften, while fully soft pears can collapse during the second simmer.
Poach the pears without crushing them
Drain the acidulated water and place the pear pieces in a clean enamel or stainless-steel pot. Add enough fresh water to cover the surface of the fruit.
Bring the pot to a gentle simmer and cook until the pears are just tender when pierced with the tip of a knife. Do not boil hard or stir through them.
Set a strainer over a large bowl and drain the pears, reserving all the poaching liquid. Let the fruit rest in the strainer while you prepare the syrup.
Make and strain the saffron syrup
Measure the reserved pear liquid back into the clean pot. Add the 800 grams of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of finely ground saffron.
Warm gently until the sugar dissolves, then boil until the syrup begins to thicken. Skim away surface foam. For a more even saffron infusion, you can first bloom the measured spice using the best way to brew saffron, counting that small amount of water as part of the syrup.
Pour the hot syrup through a fine heatproof strainer into a clean pot. This removes foam and stray fragments that can cloud the finished pear jam.
Return the pears and add lemon
Slide the drained pear pieces into the strained syrup and add the 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice. Keep the heat low enough that the fruit moves gently rather than knocking against the pot.
Simmer until the pear pieces look slightly translucent and the cooled syrup moves slowly on a cold plate. Lift and tilt the pot instead of stirring hard.
If the pears are ready before the syrup, remove them with a slotted spoon and reduce the liquid alone. Return the fruit after the heat is off.
Add rosewater at the end
Stir in the 3 tablespoons of rosewater when the syrup has reached its final consistency. Let the pot come back to a gentle simmer for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove it from the heat.
Long boiling after the rosewater goes in weakens its aroma. The saffron, pear and rose should remain separate enough to recognize.
Cool and refrigerate the Persian jam
Spoon the hot pear pieces and syrup into small clean heatproof jars. Let the strong steam subside, close the jars and refrigerate when cool.
This saffron-and-rosewater formula is presented as refrigerator pear jam, not a tested shelf-stable canning recipe. For pantry storage, follow the exact ratios, headspace and processing directions in the National Center for Home Food Preservation’s tested pear preserves recipe.
Keep the pear pieces intact
- Use firm-ripe pears and cut pieces to a similar size.
- Move peeled fruit straight into the water and 1/3 cup vinegar bath.
- Poach in fresh water and reserve the pear liquid.
- Build and strain the 800-gram sugar-and-saffron syrup separately.
- Add 2 tablespoons of lemon with the fruit.
- Add 3 tablespoons of rosewater only at the end.
The finished Iranian pear jam should be clear and fragrant, with pieces soft enough to cut with a spoon but firm enough to lift from the jar. A short final rosewater simmer keeps the fruit, rather than perfume, at the centre.
