Growing Pears in a Bottle

March 20th, 2018

It’s one of those conversation starters: how did the pear get into the bottle? The answer: with an age-old French technique, and a lot of patience.

Every year, around the time spring starts to blossom and small fruits begin to grow, our guests are enthralled by the glittering array of bottled young pears we have on display in the pear trees.

PEARS-IN-A-BOTTLE

These pears are carefully placed in the bottles when they’re still very small. Our gardeners have to make sure that the young fruit is positioned deep into the bottle, to prevent it from growing in the neck of the bottle. They also have to attach the bottle to the tree at an angle, for moisture and creepy crawlies to escape.

 

PEARS-on-a-tree

Oom Anton regularly checks the bottles and plucks them when the pears are sun-ripened, but still have enough space around the fruit to fill with mampoer. In the cellar, we carefully clean out the bottle, the full fruit still intact inside, and fill it with a house-distilled mampoer – a local spirit made from Packham pear juice. It stands for a bit before we can give it a taste – a wonderful delicacy!

This past year, we’ve applied the same treatment to a select few lemons that show promise. Once they’ve ripened and are fully grown, we’ll fill the bottle with limoncello. Bellissimo!

Here’s how it’s done. Watch.

Comments

  1. Ann says:
    March 23, 2018 at 11:24 am

    And then ………

    Reply
  2. Emmie Pabst says:
    March 23, 2018 at 12:25 pm

    Great information, I lovr receiving it

    Reply
  3. Stemmer says:
    March 23, 2018 at 1:12 pm

    Wow, awesome so funny and very interesting to see how it has bee done.

    Reply
  4. ORPA says:
    March 23, 2018 at 1:52 pm

    WAT ‘N BRILJANTE IDEE!
    WENS EK KON PROE!
    MAMPOERGROETE!

    Reply
  5. Willem&Margi says:
    March 23, 2018 at 2:01 pm

    Baie geluk met al jul mooi goed wat julle in die natuur doen
    En die manier hoe julle feitlik gratis vir ons toegang bied tot deel van julle wereld om die plaas te kan geniet.
    Ons het n’ gastehuis in Wellington.
    En behalwe onsself as baie gereelde besoekers aan julle plaas is ons gretige (stille) bemarkers en aanspoorders aan almal wat by ons gastehuis bly , om ook julle plaas te besoek.
    Ons het al baie seisoene saam met julle belewe , en kon ook merkbaar sien as julle op soek is na nuwe plaasbestuurders , net om aangenaam verras te wees as julle n’ nuwe een aanstel en hoe mooi sy/haar besem weer vee en sou ek wou se , hoe bly die bome , boorde vrugte en plante is.
    En as die nuwe een belangstelling en liefde begin verloor , dan sien ons dit ook.
    Ons het so stilweg n’ broodboom aangeneem en gaan praat elke keer met die broodboom as ons besoek afle.
    Alhoewel ons nie veel vir die boom se nie , kan ons sien hoe hy oor die jare gegroei het , dan verbeel ons , ons maar dit is omdat ons so mooi met hom praat.
    Soos die Ingelse se , keep up the good work.

    Reply
  6. Jill says:
    May 14, 2018 at 4:51 am

    I just looked at my photos from your wonderful place, I was only there to walk, eat and take photos. When I looked closely at the Donkey photo I was alarmed by the condition of his eyes: full of stuff and weeping. I don’t know how else to communicate this as I have no phone service while in SA. I hope you see this message.

    Reply
    • Babylonstoren says:
      May 14, 2018 at 3:41 pm

      Dear Jill, thank you very much for your message. Our head-gardener and also care taker of our donkeys answered the following – Thank you for your concern and message. We are aware of the weeping of the eyes, particularly Trompie and do treat him for this. A vet has checked his eyes before and could not find a problem with the eyes – I agree that it does not look good. The vet is coming to the farm tomorrow and we will ask him to check the eyes again.
      Kind regards
      Liesl

      Reply

Leave a Response