To make wardens in conserve is a traditional Elizabethan recipe for a classic dessert of Warden (or other hard) pears cooked in a red wine syrup until tender that can also be cooked down to store as a preserve. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Elizabethan version of: To make wardens in conserve.
For to make wardens in conF;erue.
FyrF;te make the F;yrope in this wyF;e, take a quarte of good romney, and putte a pynte of claryfyed honey, a pounde or a halfe of F;uger, and myngle all thoF;e together ouer the fyre , tyll tyme they F;eeth, and then F;et it to cole . And thys is a good F;irope for manye thinges, and wyll be kepte a yeare or two . Then take thy warden and F;crape cleane awaye the barke , but pare them not, and F;eeth them in good redde wyne F;o that they bewel F;oked and tender, that the wyne be nere hande F;oked into them, then take and F;trayne them throughe a cloth or through a F;trayner into a veF;F;el, then put to them of this F;yrope aforeF;ayde tyll it be almoF;t fylled, and then caF;te in the pouders , as fine canel, F;ynamon, pouder of gynger, and F;uch other, & put it in a boxes, and kepe it yf thou wylt, and make thy Syrope as thou wylt worke in quantyte, as yf thou wylt worke twenty wardens or more, or leF;F;e, as by experrence.
Modern Redaction
Here's a recipe from 470 years ago that really hasn't changed that much. Indeed, this dessert of poached pears will be familiar to many diners today.
Ingredients:
250ml red wine
125ml clear honey
100g sugar
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
1 tsp ground ginger
generous pinch of ground cloves
1 tbsp grated lemon zest (dried and powdered lemon skins would be more accurate for the period)
4 cooking pears
Method:
Combine the wine, honey, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and lemon zest in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer then cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes then take off the heat.
Pour the mixture through a fine-meshed sieve. Take the liquid and pour into a pan just large enough for the pears to fit. Peel the pears (but do not core and leave the stalks on). Sit these in the pan and bring to a simmer.
Cover with a lid and cook gently for about 20 minutes (about 40 if using Warden pears), or until the pears are tender. During this time baste the pears frequently with the wine syrup.
When tender, arrange the pears in a dish, spoon over the syrup and serve.
This version of the dish is adapted to be a dessert. From the original recipe it also appears that you can take the pears, pass through a sieve to make a purée then mix in with the syrup. Bring to a boil and continue cooking until the mixture reaches the setting point. Spoon into jars, seal with lids and store as you would any jam.
