Frozen pears

余奉使北遼至松子嶺。舊例，互置酒行三。時方窮臘，坐上有北京壓沙梨，冰凍不可食。接伴使耶律筠取冷水浸良久，冰皆外結，已而敲去，梨已融釋。自爾凡所攜柑橘之類，皆用此法，味即如故也。

I once travelled to Songziling during a diplomatic mission to the Northern Liao [1122-1123]. Both parties prepared three rounds of toasts as was conventional. It was just approaching the end of the twelfth month. At the banquet, there were Yasha pears of Beijing, [1] frozen and inedible. Escort Commissioner Yelü Yun [fl. twelfth century] took some cold water and soaked them for a long while. When [the pears] were covered with a crust of ice, [he] knocked the ice off to get the defrosted pears. Since then, [I've] applied this method to all fruits like tangerines that I bring. [Once thawed, they] taste as usual.

* From Pang Yuanying 龐元英 (fl. 11th-12th century), Wenchang zalu 文昌雜錄, Yingyin Wenyuange Siku quanshu 景印文淵閣四庫全書 edition (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1987), vol. 862, 1.14a.

[1] The pear orchard of the Yasha monastery in Beijing was famous at the time.

 Some pears from my garden... to be frozen

Dongli 凍梨 (frozen pears) that are common in north-eastern China

Image source: Wikimedia Commons