The versatile pear

In addition to their versatile culinary qualities, pears have a whole range of other advantages.

They contain valuable vitamins and minerals and help keep respiratory diseases at bay during the winter.

In addition, the hearty, crunchy, deliciously juicy fruits are rich in water and low in calories despite their natural sweetness.

Their acidity is lower than that of apples, and they have twice as much fibre making them highly digestible. They can also prevent rheumatism and arthritis.

Pears do not keep as long as apples, and unlike them cannot be eaten straight from the tree, they are best picked shortly before they ripen and left at room temperature for a few days until ripe. The best way to check for ripening is to apply thumb pressure near the stem.

The most popular pear varieties available in Spain during the winter months are:

■ Comice pears, known as the sweetest pear variety, these have been described as mellow and earthy in flavour. These pears are aromatic and succulent. They are round with short necks, thick stems and a soft flesh. They are green but display pink streaks as they ripen.

■ Conference pears are elongated pears with a cone shape and are larger than average. Their skin colour is light brown with a green background that sometimes, but not always, becomes yellow when pear is ripe. The colour of the flesh is cream. One of the great advantages of this pear is maintained in perfect condition for a long time if stored at cool temperature.

■ The Concorde is a unique pear variety derived from the Conference and Comice pears. It is elegantly shaped, and best identified by its exceptionally long neck that tapers to an almost pointed top, with a stem that is also long and oftentimes curved. Because it has a more dense flesh, the Concorde is ideal for cooking. They hold both shape and flavour, as they are naturally slow to oxidize after being cut.

■ Anjou pears are sweet, juicy, mild pears with a hint of citrus. Anjou is delicious eaten fresh but holds up well to roasting, baking, poaching, grilling or canning. Unlike most pears that change colour as they ripen, The Anjou pear may take on a very slight hint of yellow when it ripens, but the attractive green colour generally remains unchanged.

A great way to enjoy pears is combining them with a quality blue cheese and a glass of Pedro Ximenéz or as a dessert poached in red wine and served with a dollop of icecream, but there are many different recipes that include pears, here are just a few:

Pear and cinnamon Bellini

A festive drink for approx. 12 glasses: 12 pears ( peras), 1 cinnamon stick ( rama de canela), 1 bottle of chilled sparkling wine ( cava or prosecco)

Peel and halve the pears, remove the core and seeds. Put in a saucepan, cover with water and cook until slightly tender.

Add the cinnamon stick and continue to simmer until the pears are very soft. Take out the cinnamon stick and put the pears in the blender. Puree with enough cooking juice until it becomes smooth. Let it cool down.

Mix one part pear puree with two parts sparkling wine in a jug. Serve in champagne glasses.

Canapés with pear and blue cheese

For 12 canapés: one ripe pear ( pera madura), approx. 150 g blue cheese ( queso azul), fresh thyme ( tomillo), some runny honey ( miel), freshly ground black pepper

For the crostini: 12 small, thin slices of baguette, olive oil ( aceite de oliva).

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees ( gas mark 5). Place the bread slices on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil and bake for five to eight minutes until crispy and golden brown. Put to one side.

Peel and core the pear, cut into one centimetre cubes. Cut the cheese into pieces of roughly the same size.

Place a few cubes of pear and cheese on each slice of bread, sprinkle with a few thyme leaves, drizzle a little honey on top and finally grind pepper over the top.

Pears with green peppercorns

Ingredients: juicy ripe pears ( peras), but not too ripe, butter ( mantequilla), sugar ( azucar), apple or pear juice ( zumo manzana o pera), a jar of green peppercorns), potato starch or corn maize ( Maizena).

Cut the unpeeled pears into three to five millimetre thick slices, remove the core.

Place some butter and a little sugar in a pan, when the mix caramelises, add the green peppercorns about 20 per pear. Pour three quarters of a cup of pear or apple juice and bring to the boil.

Mix a tablespoon of cold juice with a teaspoon of cornstarch in a cup, add to the pan and stir until the liquid becomes creamy. Remove the pan off the hob, place the pear slices in the hot stock; they will cook while cooling down. Let them soak for 24 hours before serving warm.

The pepper pears would be ideal to accompany fried chicken together with a fresh salad. In this case, add a little white balsamic vinegar to taste.

Carrot and pear salad

4 small carrots ( zanahorias), 2 ripe pears ( peras), 1 small courgette ( calabacín), lemon juice ( limón), 2 teaspoons of honey ( miel), 8 tablespoons of vegetable stock ( caldo vegetal), 6 tablespoons of good sunflower oil ( aceite de girasol), pepper and salt, possibly a little fresh ginger ( jengibre), 2 tbsp roasted almond flakes ( almendras tostadas)

Peel the carrots and pears, ( remove the pear cores) and ut into thin strips together with the courgettes.

Mix lemon juice, honey, vegetable stock and sunflower oil into a vinaigrette and season with salt and pepper. Add a little fresh ginger if you wish. Ideally marinate the pears, carrots and courgettes in the sauce for at least an hour.

To serve, sprinkle over the roasted almond flakes..

The salad tastes great on its own and combines well with fried fish or veal.