Peeres in Confyt & Wardens en Conserve

Recipes under two names (pears in confit, and wardons [or pears] in syrup) can be found in Form of Curye (#136), an Ordinance of Pottage (#86, #65), MS Harley 5401 (#44, #60), MS Arundel 334 (#120), and both the manuscripts in Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (firstMS, Pottages Diverse #10; second MS, #96). Confit comes from the French word confire which means literally "to preserve," a confit being any type of food that is cooked slowly over a long period of time as a method of preservation.

Forme of Cury, S. Pegge (ed.), 1390

PEERES IN CONFYT. XX.VI. XII. Take peeres and pare hem clene. take gode rede wyne & mulberes oþer saundres and seeþ þe peeres þerin & whan þei buth ysode, take hem up, make a syryp of wyne greke. oþer vernage with blaunche powdour oþer white sugur and powdour gyngur & do the peres þerin. seeþ it a lytel & messe it forth.

Take pears and pare them clean, take good red wine and mulberries or sandlewood and cook the peers therein and when they both cooked take them up, make a syrup of wine Greek or Vernaccia with white powder or white sugar and powdered ginger and do the pears therein, cook it a little and mess it forth.

Recipe by Daniel Myers

This is an easy and elegant dish, that's still popular today.

4 pears 
3 cups red wine 
water (for poaching)
2 cups sugar 
1/2 tsp. ginger 

Peel pears, leaving the stems on, and cut a small amount off the bottoms so they will stand upright. Poach in water flavored with one cup of wine. Remove pears from water when they are just tender and place upright in a serving bowl. If desired, slice each pear in halves or quarters leaving about a half inch from the top uncut so the parts will remain attached. Make a syrup of remaining wine, sugar, and ginger. Bring syrup to a boil, reduce heat and allow to simmer. Pour syrup over pears and serve hot.

Wardens in Conserve

A Proper New Booke of Cokerye (1545), edited by Catherine Frances Frere, Cambridge 1913.

For to Make Wardens in Conserve

Fyrste make the syrope in this wyse, take a quarte of good romney and putte a pynte of claryfyed honey, and a pounde or a halfe of suger, and myngle all those together over the fyre, till tyme they weeth, and then set it to cole. And thys is a good sirope for manye thinges, and wyll be kepte a yere or two. Then take thy warden and scrape cleane awaye the barke, but pare them not, and seeth them in good redde wyne so that they be wel soked and tender, that the wyne be nere hade soked into them, then take and strayne them throughe a cloth or through a strayner into a vessell, then put to them of this syroope aforesayde tyll it be almost fylled, and then cast in the pouders, as fyne canel, synamon, pouder of gynger and such other, and put it in a boxes and kepe it yf thou wylt and make thy syrope as thou wylt wourke in quantyte, as if thou wylt worke twenty wardens or more or lesse as by experience.

Wardens in Conserve
Adapted Recipe from http://www.mkcc.rhawn.com/

10 lb. firm but ripe pears, peeled, cored and sliced in half soaked in a 1 cup red wine/1 cup water solution. This substitutes for lemon juice in keeping the fruit fresh and adds flavour and colour to the pears.

1 cup honey
1 cup sugar
3 cups water
1 cup white wine
10-20 cloves (depending on taste)
6-8 2 inch pieces of whole cinnamon

Modern Canning Method

Combine the honey, sugar, water and wine. Bring to a boil. Add 10 cloves and 3 or 4 sticks of cinnamon.. In the meanwhile have 4 -quart canning jars cleaned, sterilized and ready with 2-3 cloves and 1-2 cinnamon pieces in each. Place 6-8 pear halves into each jar. Pour the syrup over each to within 1/4 inch from the top. Seal with proper canning lids (sterilized of course) . Place into a hot water bath and bring to a boil for 25 minutes. Remove, cool and store.

If you do not wish to use a modern canning method the above noted recipe easily converts by simply boiling the fruit in the syrup for 5 minutes, jarring and storing only 1 week in a cool place.

Makes 4 quarts preserved fruit