Instructions

1. Grate the ginger on the finest face of the grater, the one that gives a wet pulp rather than threads. A shred of ginger sitting on a slice is a hot spot; pulp spreads.
2. Stir the ginger into the honey first and only then let the warm water down into it. Honey thinned first goes cloudy and refuses to take the ginger evenly.
3. Asian pears are crisp rather than soft so they slice cleanly, but they brown as fast as an apple. Have the glaze mixed and the trays out before the first cut.
4. Cut them to 6 mm, working around the core rather than through it. The core is gritty with stone cells and stays gritty however long it dries.
5. Brush the glaze on thinly and on one side only. Glazed on both faces a slice cannot breathe from either, and the underside picks up plenty from the tray anyway.
6. Dehydrate at 57 °C for 11 hours. Asian pear holds much more water than a European pear, which is why this runs longer than it looks like it should.
7. They are ready when a slice is pliable and leathery and no juice shows when you fold it in half. Leave them until the edges curl and go translucent if you would rather have them crisp.
8. Cool them fully, then condition them in a loosely lidded jar for a week, shaking it daily. Sealed tight afterwards they hold a year, and over that time the ginger settles into the fruit rather than fading out of it.