Fruit "Cheese"

[shroomgirl]

With pears in abundance, I'm opting to make pear cheese, which is peeled, cored, cooked down pears/sugar until it's sliceable....much like membrillo or quince paste. I've only found one recipe which is pears, water and sugar. I've eliminated the water, will add lemon and possibly some rosemary. Have any of you made fruit cheese? What's your experience been?

[Anneke]

Yup, made it with quince. Still have the scars in my kitchen ceiling. Two words: STAND BACK. Never seen anything bubble like that before. Didn't really like the result; I had to add to much sugar to give it the right body.

I suppose you'll have to add pectin since pears had very little, but you already knew that.

[shroomgirl]

outrageous amount of sugar 1to1 with pear puree, I added vanilla bean, orange zest, rosemary and lemon juice......stopped short of butter will continue tomorrow.....
1982 was the mango chutney season, the jarred stuff was so much better than the product I ended up with and probably when all was said and done cheaper....well maybe not but that was a "bought was better than homemade" experience.

[shroomgirl]

turned out ok.....I'd do it again.....added apples to create more pectin.
orange, vanilla, rosemary were back notes....

[buonaboy]

To get the "cheese" consistency, have you tried adding just a touch of Pectin? I've used it just in sorbets and jams, but I think with a little experimentation you could get it right.
-ciao

Edit: you just posted that while I was typing, so you probably already figured that out.
-ciao