Recipe : Goddess Glow poached Pears
Over the thousands of years humans have roamed the earth (a relative blink of the eye), we have gone to great lengths to care for our skin, our beauty, and our longevity. One of the earliest ideas of an elixir of immortality is known as Amrita, the food of the devas (heavenly bodies), which appears first in the Rigveda compiled sometime around 1500-1000 BCE. Amrita is such a powerful substance that the gods and demons of Indian mythology battle for its possession, a tale known as “the Churning of the Ocean of Milk”. Throughout history, our ancestors - including the ancient Chinese - believed that eating long-lasting precious substances such as jade, cinnabar or hematite would confer some of that longevity on the person who consumed them. Gold was considered particularly potent, as it was a non-tarnishing precious metal. Within the well-known Chinese alchemical book, the Danjing yaojue, a famous medical specialist known as the "King of Medicine", discusses in detail the creation of elixirs for immortality, and the inclusion of ingredients such as mercury, sulphur, and the salts of mercury and arsenic is prominent (and poisonous).
These days, while we have a better understanding of what ingested substances help or harm, there are even more potions and supplements that promise greater health than ever before. Who of us interested and invested in our wellbeing doesn’t have a cupboard of half-full off-the-shelf formulations that we heard about online? Fortunately, we can reap the benefits of good health, glowing skin, increased vitality and better sleep with the foods we choose to eat, prepared simply and lovingly in our own kitchen.
This recipe is a delicious, sweet beauty tonic that helps to build blood to give natural rosiness to cheeks and moisten the skin for natural glow and dew. Pears are often eaten during the fall for their ability to help moisten the lungs and expel a dry cough, and they are equally beneficial in the winter to add much needed moisture during a dry time of year. Here, we’ve combined pears with honey, spices, and goji berries for our own take on the elixir of the gods.
Ingredients
5 star anise (whole)
1 cinnamon stick (or 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon)
1 cup honey
2.5 c water
2 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1/4 of a lemon)
1 pinch fine sea salt
6 firm pears, peeled, quartered and cored
1/4 cup dried goji berries
INSTRUCTIONS
Combine 2 1/2 cups water, honey, star anise, cinnamon, lemon juice, and sea salt in large saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add pears and goji berries; reduce heat and simmer until tender, turning occasionally, 4 to 6 minutes, depending on ripeness. Using slotted spoon, transfer pears to a medium bowl. Boil liquid, goji berries and star anise until reduced to 1 cup syrup, about 20 minutes. Pour syrup with star anise over pears. Cover and chill until cold, about 2 hours.
Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled and reheat before serving.
Remove star anise from syrup. Divide pears and syrup among 6 bowls and serve. This also makes a nice, light breakfast with some plain yoghurt.