last year i made homemade pumpkin applesauce, a real fall favorite. packed with cinnamon, vanilla and brown sugar, it was a decadent traditional treat made fresh with organic ingredients. but i’m on a low sugar kick lately and wanted to make a much lighter version.
instead of brown sugar, i sweetened it with the fresh juice of fuji apples – the first of the season. and since asian pears and yams are in abundance at the farmers’ market i thought they would mimic the flavors of apples and pumpkin quite well, even adding a hint of vanilla from the pears and a creaminess from the yams.
yam and asian pear sauce
2 and 1/2 lbs of asian pears
1 lb of yams
1 c apple juice
2 c water
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp sea salt
gather up all your fruits and veggies and wash them well. remove any bruises or blemishes. chop all of your yams and asian pears into chunks – excluding the cores – and toss into a large pot. you can peel them if you’d like, but the skin will get strained out at the end so i don’t bother.
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chop up the apples small enough to fit in your juicer, it only took me two medium-sized apples to get 1 cup of juice. if you don’t have your own juicer then you can pick some up from your local juice bar, or use the store-bought kind. if you’d like a sweeter sauce you can use two cups juice and only one cup water, i prefer this treat on the less sweet side.
lastly, grate or finely chop your lemon zest. this helps keep the fruit fresh because it contains citric acid, a natural preservative.
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add all the ingredients into the pot and bring to a boil on high heat. then cover, reduce to a simmer and let cook until soft and mushy. it took me a little over an hour. at first, stir every 20 minutes. then as the liquid is mostly cooked off stir every 10, then 5 minutes. keep your eye on it until it is so thick it will stick to a spoon when held upside down. then you know it’s done!
remove from the heat and let sit for a few minutes before trying to handle it. send the mixture through a food mill, apple sauce maker or even a strainer/sieve. you could blend or food process it, but it will be a little more fiberous and might be a bit chunky.
makes a great snack or a light dessert, and it would work great as baby food.
yields 3-4 servings
6 Comments
These pictures are stunning! Thank you for sharing this recipe, it really looks and sounds delicious.
These pictures are stunning! Thank you for sharing this recipe, it really looks and sounds delicious.
Ooops, should have said great post! Waiting on your next post!
what a great idea! sounds like the crisp fresh flavor of the pear goes nicely with the creaminess. those are sweet potatoes though, not yams -yams are usually white and have dark hairy skin. people always get them confused. you should take my quiz so you can see the real difference, i think you’ll be surprised
http://sweetbytesblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/pop-quiz-sweet-potato-or-yam.html
your blog is beautiful. keep it up!
hm, well i call it a yam because that’s what the farmers i work for call it. they also grow sweet potatoes that have white flesh and i was under the impression that it is the sweet potato that is often mistaken for a yam, not the other way around.
but perhaps there are different varieties?
Great idea – I love the combinations.