how to draw out/concentrate flavor of asian pear?

[_john]

I am trying to make an asian pear sorbet. I am pureeing the raw fruit and then adding a sugar syrup and freezing it in an ice cream maker. When it is frozen it has very little asian pear flavor. Any ideas for concentrating or bringing out subtle flavors like asian pear? Thanks.

[JasonTrue]

My first stab would be partial dehydration.

Did you add any lemon? In moderation, it'll bring out the flavors too.

[tim]

Hi,

I didn't think asian pears had any flavor!

It must be my local purveyor.

Tim

[dystopiandreamgirl]

the purest fruit flavors are locked up in eau de vies - this page mentions (about halfway down) an asian pear eau de vie distilled at Stillwater Spirits in Petaluma.

Stillwater's site has no info but you could pursue it with a phone call...

I haven't made many frozen treats so i don't know how the high alcohol content would affect your product. You might end up with a slushee, in which case I would just say "I meant to do that".

[Tri2Cook]

I've never tried to concentrate asian pear but maybe try running some through a juicer and reducing the juice to a syrup then adding that to your puree? Or, if you don't want to mess with a juicer, you could try just reducing some puree and combining that with fresh puree. I'm thinking a slow reduction (not too much heat) would be best. With such a delicate flavor, developing caramel notes from overheating the sugars might take over the whole show.

[KatieLoeb]

It must be the pears you're getting. There's an orchard near me that has the world's best Asian pears. One variety tastes like pure butterscotch!

The dehydrating sounds like a good start.

[JasonTrue]

I've resisted "cooking" nashi because I'd worried the aroma and texture would suffer too much; they certainly don't caramelize like younashi (western pear). However, when I had a surplus of them, I did a couple of things that involved heat without major disasters. (Memory is fuzzy on the details, sorry).

An alcohol infusion will take a fairly long time, but you might get some value out of a high-sugar alcohol infusion within a week or two. I would only use about 30ml per liter or the ice cream won't freeze. However, it will provide both flavor and texture benefits; alcohol will yield a softer, less icy sorbet.