This pear simple sugar syrup recipe is made in a traditional way by simmering pears in hot sugar with an optional infusion of spices such as cinnamon, cloves and vanilla.
The pear simple syrup is great for making flavoured fruit iced tea, bubble tea, cocktails, mocktails or can be used as a delicious topping sauce for puddings, pancakes, ice creams or a sugar syrup for moisteing sponge cakes layers.
This easy pear syrup recipe is perfect for beginners as there are no complicated cooking techniques involved or unusual cooking equipment needed.
It will take only about 30 minutes to make from start to finish and you’ll end up with a jar of amazingly flavoured sugar syrup.
As a little extra bonus, you’ll also end up with sugar stewed pears pieces, which can be used as toppings for ice creams, yoghurt or breakfast porridge.
The stewed pears are very very sweet, so you’ll only need a few to sweeten your puddings.
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Why make this recipe?
- Simple & easy pear sugar syrup to make
- Great syrup for cocktails, mocktails, iced tea, puddings, desserts, ice-creams, pancakes etc.
- Perfect homemade gift for your friends and family
- Low sugar recipe – this recipe contains only 1/4 of the amount of sugar of traditional sugar syrups have
My top tips on making pear simple syrup recipe
Let the sugar dissolve properly before you start to simmer the mixture. Check with a back of a spoon if you can see any sugar crystals. If not, you are ready to start boiling the sugar.
Don’t stir too much once you start to boil the syrup as this will re-form the sugar crystals and makes them only stronger (e.g. you might get a gritty syrup)
Add salt to your taste! Sugar is very bland ingredient and it does need salt to bring out the flavour. The pear flavour can be also slightly faint and the salt helps to sharpen that flavour.
At the end of the simmering, leave the pears to infuse – leave the pears in the syrup for extra 15 -20 minutes to infuse the flavour, before pouring through a fine sieve to a jam jar.
Pro tip
The thickness of your pear sugar syrup will slightly depends on how long you simmer your sugar.
The sugar syrup does need to be simmered for at least 10-15 minutes to make sure that the pears infuse the sugar properly.
If you continue simmering the sugar after that, the syrup will thicken more. The thicker syrup is perfect for drizzling over pancakes or puddings.
What makes this pear simple syrup recipe work?
Without a doubt, it’s the pinch of salt, which sharpens the flavour and also the hint of cinnamon or other spices which adds depth to the flavour.
What to watch out for when making this recipe
Be careful about leaving the saucepan on it’s own – you do need to watch the sugar mixture as it can easily over bubble and you might end up with sticky sugar all over your cooker.
If you see that the bubbles are coming to the top of your saucepan, either gently stir the top of the bubbles (to sort of break them), blow at the bubbles to burst them or (and….) take the pot off the heat immediately.
Also, don’t let the sugar start caramelising (going too brown) when you start boiling the mixture. This will make the sugar taste caramelised and it is irreversible! The pear flavour is quite delicate, so any caramelisation will overpower the pear flavour.
Any specialist equipment needed?
You will only need a few pieces of kitchen equipment, but nothing too specialist that you wouldn’t have already at home.
Although we are working with sugar, there is no need for a thermometer in this recipe.
- Medium sided saucepan
- Sieve
- Measuring spoons or scales
- Wooden stirring spoon
- Jam jar & lid (or other suitable container)
Time saving tip
If you are thinking of making this easy pear sugar syrup as a gift, double or triple the quantity to make more syrup at the same time.
Make sure you use large saucepan or a stock pot as the sugar has a tendency to bubble over, when being boiled.
Pear simple syrup ingredients
Pears
It’s best to use firm types of pears, such as conference pears or any slightly unripe pears. This is because we want the pears to infuse the sugar syrup with their flavour, but not to get too soft so that they go mushy.
If that happens, don’t worry, put the whole mixture through a sieve – keeping the pear skin/peels out – and you’ll end up with a slightly thicker (and very sweet) pear coulis.
You can use it in the same way as the pear syrup, but use it much quicker as the high pear fruit amount will mean that the syrup might go off sooner than when it’s just a pure infused fruit sugar.
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White Sugar
I’ve used granulated white sugar for this recipe as we need to have a clear syrup.
The white sugar has also very bland – neutral flavour, which means that the pears will come through better than if we were to use brown or golden sugar.
Salt
A tiny pinch of salt will help to bring all the flavours together and will enhance and sharpen the pear flavour.
Cinnamon or other sweet warming spices – optional
The spices are optional, but if you want to add an extra flavour dimension to your pear syrup, something like a cinnamon or other mixed spices are a great way to do that.
I’ve used powdered cinnamon and left it in my syrup, but you could use a whole cinnamon stick and leave it to infuse (and remove after about 20 minutes).
Again, I tried to keep the recipe as simple as possible, so that you can use the type of spices you probably already have at home.
Vanilla Essence – optional
Vanilla essence is optional and like cinnamon will add en extra depth to the pear syrup.
Only add the vanilla essence when the the syrup has cooled down a bit and when you’ve removed the pears.
This is because the vanilla essence might evaporate or get burned if you put it in too soon when the mixture is simmering or too hot.
How to make pear simple syrup – Quick Instructions
Measure the sugar and ad it to a medium sized saucepan.
Add water, the cinnamon (if using) and salt and mix well with a wooden spoon.
Place on a very low heat and let the sugar slowly dissolve first.
Cut up the pear into smaller chunks, leave the peel on, but don’t use the core or stalk.
Once the sugar is dissolved, carefully add the pear, increase the heat to medium/high and bring the syrup to simmering.
Keep the syrup simmering for about 15 minutes for a thinner syrup (great for drinks) or up to 20-25 minutes (for thicker syrup for pancakes or puddings).
Stir if necessary to prevent the pears from catching on the bottom of the saucepan. Don’t let the sugar to go brown (to caramelise).
If you see that the sugar is getting lightly golden, reduce the heat or stop simmering the syrup all together.
Take the saucepan off the heat and leave to infuse for another 15 minutes.
Pour the syrup through a sieve to a medium size jam jar.
Add vanilla essence if using and stir in. When cold, taste and add more cinnamon, vanilla essence or dissolved salt in a tiny amount of water to intensify the flavours.
Pour the pear easy sugar syrup into a jam jar or ther suitable heat proof container and store in the fridge (when cooled down) for 2-3 weeks.
Dietary requirements
This pear syrup recipe is:
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Dairy Free
- Soy-Free
- Gluten-Free
Batch size
The syrup is going to reduce a little, but it will still give you around 200-250 ml (about 1 cup +) of sugar syrup which will be enough for one large sized jam jar.
Depending on how much of your syrup you’ll be using per serving, you can get about 16-20 tablespoons from this recipe quantity.
Scaling up or down this recipe
You can easily scale up this recipe, just double or triple the ingredients. Make sure that you use a suitably large saucepan or a stock pot if you are increasing the amount of ingredients.
Scaling down this recipe is possible too, but be careful. You’ll be handling a much smaller amount of water and sugar, which can be quite easily burned.
Pear simple syrup is perfect for
- Simply drizzle on any lemon or vanilla flavoured pudding, ice cream, or pancakes
- Great for sweetening natural yoghurt or greek yoghurts
- Use it for making pear flavoured bubble tea, cocktails, mocktails or other fruit or pear infused drinks
- Can be used as a sweetener for breakfast smoothies, porridge, oatmeal etc.
- This simple pear syrup is also great for moistenning layers of sponge cakes, before layering them with buttercream.
Can the syrup be made in advance?
This pear sugar syrup has a good shelf life, so making it up to 2-3 days in advance should be fine.
How to store your syrup
A glass jam jar is probably the best, but any airtight and heatproof container will be fine too.
I always keep my pear syrup in the fridge, to make sure that the syrup doesn’t go off or mould doesn’t develop inside.
Shelf life
When kept in the fridge, the pear syrup should be fine for 2-3 weeks minimum.
It will be probably fine beyond that time too, but ours normally doesn’t last that long.
Questions & Answers
This is probably because the sugar wasn’t properly dissolved before you started to boil the mixture.
It can also be because you might have stirred the syrup too much whilst it was boiling. Using a spoon with leftover sugar could also be a problem, so make sure you use a clean one.
You can gently dissolve the sugar again by re-heating the syrup and adding extra water (1 tablespoon should be fine).
If you are worried about the crystals re-forming again, add a tablespoon of glucose (corn syrup) to the mixture. Glucose or corn syrup (also honey) is a form of sugar, which helps to keep the sugar crystals apart.
Pear Simple Sugar Syrup
Equipment
- saucepan medium size
- wooden stirring spoon
- jam jar
- sieve
Ingredients
- 1 pear about 1 cup cut up or 150 grams
- 1/4 cup white sugar 60 grams
- 1 cup water 200 ml
- tiny pinch of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon optional
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence optional
Instructions
- Measure the sugar and ad it to a medium sized saucepan.
- Add water, the cinnamon (if using) and salt and mix well with a wooden spoon.
- Place on a very low heat and let the sugar slowly dissolve first.
- Cut up the pear into smaller chunks, leave the peel on, but don't use the core or stalk.
- Once the sugar is dissolved, carefully add the pear, increase the heat to medium/high and bring the syrup to simmering.
- Keep the syrup simmering for about 15 minutes for a thinner syrup (great for drinks) or up to 20-25 minutes (for thicker syrup for pancakes or puddings). Stir if necessary to prevent the pears from catching on the bottom of the saucepan. Don't let the sugar to go brown (to caramelise). If you see that the sugar is getting lightly golden, reduce the heat or stop simmering the syrup all together.
- Take the saucepan off the heat and leave to infuse for another 15 minutes.
- Pour the syrup through a sieve to a medium size jam jar.
- Add vanilla essence if using and stir in. When cold, taste and add more cinnamon, vanilla essence or dissolved salt in a tiny amount of water to intensify the flavours.
- Pour the pear easy sugar syrup into a jam jar or ther suitable heat proof container and store in the fridge (when cooled down) for 2-3 weeks.
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I’ve made the pear syrup this weekend and the syrup was fab on pancakes. I’ll try your suggestion of making it into an iced tea next – it sounded delicious!