- 1 ounce pear syrup (see below)
- Juice of 1 lime (about 1 ounce) + the carcass of half the lime
- 3 ounces pineapple juice
- 3 ounces club soda
Add the pear syrup, lime and pineapple juices, and half of the squeezed lime over ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake thoroughly.
Pour everything, including the ice, into a Collins glass. Top with club soda, then stir gently. Garnish with a paper umbrella or a plastic dinosaur. Drink with a straw. Because, reasons.
Pear syrup
- 2 pears, or five or six little ones (300 g)
- ½ cup (99 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (225 g) water
Wash several pears, but don’t worry about peeling or coring them. Chop them into medium dice, then put them in the freezer for a few hours or overnight, until they are completely frozen.
Imagine that you are very tiny and have just moved into a new home — the inside of a pear cell. You have just finished getting your tiny apartment set up — the cookbooks are shelved, you’ve placed your lamps and tiny houseplants arranged just so. You put some jazz on your tiny sound system — maybe “Autumn Leaves” by the Bill Evans Trio — and have put your feet up and are relaxing. Unknown to you, the big lummox who lives outside the pear chops it into pieces. It’s like an earthquake and shocks you off your recliner, onto your tiny floor. You shout and shake your fist at the cell walls, but suddenly, the temperature starts to plummet. To your horror, the cell rumbles, and giant ice crystals start bursting through the walls, tearing brutal holes in them.
It only gets worse from there.
The point of this is that by freezing fruit, you poke holes through all its cell walls, which makes it collapse and release juice better when you make your syrup.
Combine the frozen pear pieces, the sugar and the water in a saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, until it comes to a boil. Simmer the mixture for 20 minutes. About 10 minutes in, hit the pear pieces with a potato masher to encourage them to submit to the syrup process.
Remove the pear pan from the stove and let it cool for an hour or so. Strain into a jar or a small bottle, and store in the refrigerator for up to a month.
Featured photo. Photo by John Fladd.