Is Dessert Wine Paleo?

Dear Nell,

I saw a recipe for poached pears in today’s Wall Street Journal. The pears are poached in a sweet dessert wine, moscato, and water, no extra added sugar. From my brief search on Moscato, it seems it is made from early harvested grapes with a high sugar content. Would this dessert be considered paleo? Is the use of a dessert wine, such as Moscato, Paleo?

Since this type of wine is, as you point out, higher in sugar than say, a dry white like a Pinot Grigio, I’d suggest simply swapping out the Moscato for a less sugary wine.   Not only will doing so create a less syrupy sweet dessert product, it will allow the flavors of the pear to stand out more, rather than being overshadowed by the sometimes cloying sweetness inherent to some dessert wines.

I’d personally use a red wine; not only do I prefer a nice, full bodied Cab, but reds are so high in antioxidants and reservatrol! Peel the pears, leave whole, add  some dried vanilla and poach.  The result is a beautifully colored dark red pear. Serve it warm, with some homemade coconut sorbet, made from fresh coconut, with no (unnecessary) sugar added.

Enjoy!