Pickled Asian Pears (Wor Mei Lei)
At a Glance
- Prep
- 15 minutes
- Cook
- 72 hours
- Total
- 72 hours 15 minutes
- Servings
- 4-6 serving(s)
Categories
- Appetizer
- Chinese
- Pickling
- Easy
- Pears
Dietary
- Vegan
Servings & Nutrition
Original recipe serves 6. Current scale: 1x.
This is from Eileen Yin-Fei Lo's "The Chinese Kitchen", one of the finest classic Chinese cookbooks in English. In this reciped, she uses "sah leh" (sand pears) and recommends substituting Bosc pears, but I have done this with Asian pears, specifically Hosui or Niitaka. The desirable characteristic is a hard, crisp fruit. This is a wonderful appetizer or amuse bouche ... You can either pickle the pears whole, or for an appetizer, you can julienne them.
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Equipment
Oversize glass jar, non-metallic utensil
Ingredients
- 2 lbs pears, very hard, barely ripe
- 1 1/3 cups Chinese white rice vinegar (can substitute distilled vinegar ( cider vinegar not recommended (adds too much apple flaovor)
- 1 1/3 cups water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
Peel, wash, and dry the pears (julienne if you choose to -- ).
Place all the remaining ingredients in an oversize glass jar.
Mix well (non-metallic utensil, wood preferred) to ensure all the ingredients are dissolved.
Add the pears to the jar, mix again, and cover tightly.
Keep in refrigerator, undisturbed, for at least 3 days before use.
These pears will keep refrigerated for at least 6 months.
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