Chocolate Pear Pudding With Fresh Pears

Asked by Jackiet. Answered on 1st November 2013

Full question

Can I use fresh pears instead of canned ones for the Chocolate Pear Pudding? If so do I have to partially cook them beforehand?

Our answer

Nigella's Chocolate Pear Pudding (from Nigella Express and on the Nigella website) is made using canned pears. We have not made the pudding using fresh pears, however we suspect that it would be possible to use fresh pears that are peeled, halved and cored.

We would however mention that the cooking time for the pudding is fairly short so it would be best to use very ripe pears. Conference or Bosc pears would be a good variety to look for as they become soft when ripe and will cook fairly quickly. We would suggest using 4 larger pears or 6 smaller ones. If you only have hard pears then you could poach the pear halves in a simple syrup made from equal quantities of sugar and water until they are just tender.