Sirop de Liege/Liege Syrup

In the past post we discovered the scrumptious Belgian waffle. Today, we will make the labor intensive, but so worth it Liege Syrup.

Liege Syrup is basically what we call Apple Butter, but instead of being made with just apples, it is made with pears as well – resulting in a sweeter smoother flavor. While you can easily buy the product already prepared online by Googling “Sirop de Liege”, homemade will give you the advantage of adding more goodies to it. Personally I like to add apricots to my Sirop de Liege, but you can add anything ranging from plums, figs to whatever you wish to add.

Liege Syrup has a fairly easy process. The hardest part is the filtration of the syrup. One washes the fruit and cuts it into fourths. It is then cooked over low heat, allowing the fruit to slowly cook while it expels its juice over the course of 4 hours. After the fruit has cooked for 4 hours, it is then pressed against a fine sieve or cheesecloth to remove the skin, seeds and other parts that have not fully cooked.

The juice and pulp is then reduced slowly for 4 hours, allowing the natural sugars to caramelize and concentrate the syrup. Take note that sugar is not added because the apples and pears provide it – it is plenty sweet.

You can spread this delectable goodie on toast, waffles, pancakes and even savory dishes. Use it as a glaze on a pork loin. Use it as a base sauce for meatballs – it truly is versatile.

Sirop de Liege

Yields: 1 lbs

Ingredients

6 lbs pears
2 lbs apples
1 1/2 lbs apricots or any other fruit, or berry.

Directions

1. Wash your fruit well, remove any stickers, remove any stems and cut into fourths. Do no peel or remove seeds. Do, however, remove pits if any.
2. In a large stockpot cook the fruit over Medium-Low heat, moving the fruit around occasionally. Be sure that once the juice starts to expel, that it does not come to a boil; do bring it to a simmer.
3. Continue cooking the fruit for 4 hours.
4. Press the fruit through a fine sieve or cheesecloths to remove the maximum amount of juice and pulp. Discard what is left over.
5. Over medium-low heat, continue to cook the juice and pulp for 4 hours; stirring every 15 minutes.
6. Once the fruit starts to caramelize, keep close watch.
7. The syrup is done when you see the bottom of the pan after passing a spoon through it.

OPTIONAL DIRECTION.

8. Should you feel valiant enough, turn the heat to high. Vigorously whisk the Liege Syrup for 8 more minutes. This will caramelize it more, and bring out the flavors. Be careful, because if you do not whisk hard enough it will burn.