Korean Pear (Bae, 배)

The Korean pear, Pyrus pyrifolia, is a pear of East Asia that has been grown on the peninsula for many centuries and is called bae. Today the large, round, russet-free fruit of the Singo type is grown chiefly in Naju in Jeollanam-do and in Cheonan and Pyeongtaek, and the Korean Geographical Indications register names Naju pear among the protected products. It belongs to the table of celebration: it is set out at Chuseok and at ancestral rites, and in the home kitchen it is grated into marinades for beef, as Maangchi describes for bulgogi and galbi, and sliced into the cold broths and the kimchi of the autumn.

Pyrus pyrifolia, the Asian or Nashi pear, is a round fruit of up to about 500g, with pale golden skin, white flesh that is crisp, watery and finely granular with stone cells, and a clean, mild sweetness with little acidity or perfume. It does not soften as a European pear does, and it keeps its crunch when cut. In the kitchen it is used in four ways: peeled and sliced raw as a dessert; grated, with its juice, as a tenderiser and sweetener in beef marinades; cut into thin strips or cubes for the brine of baek-kimchi and dongchimi; and hollowed, filled with ginger, jujube and honey, and steamed or simmered as a winter remedy-drink, bae-suk.

Raw pear is eaten after rich food, particularly after grilled beef and pork, where its cool water and light sweetness refresh the palate and clear fat. Grated into a marinade with soy sauce, garlic and sesame oil, it supplies sugar for caramelisation on the grill and enzymes that soften the meat, which is why it sits beside beef in bulgogi and galbi. In dongchimi and baek-kimchi it adds a faint sweetness that balances the salt and the radish. It is taken with tea, and in the cold months the steamed pear is drunk warm with its ginger syrup.