I have the most wonderful friend, Mrs. Bobbie. Since the day I met her, about 12 years ago, she's been like another mama to me.
Well Mrs. Bobbie let me know a few weeks ago, her pears were going to be ready soon. The the day came, the girls and I packed up our buckets and headed over. She didn't care the girls were picking that poor tree clean. We visited for a bit, and by the time the girls were done, we had about 4 boxes of pears, and plans for a fishing trip in the making.
So what to do with all these pears? You can look till your eyes fall out and you won't find many recipes for pears other than tarts.
I have 4 boxes of these things, tarts is not enough. Well guess what, you might as well call a pear, the "other green apple" cause anything you can do with an apple you can probably do with a pear.
Now we're rolling. Pear sauce, pie filling, pear butter, pear syrup, pear jelly....
We got our pears on Monday, today is Thursday, each day we've been putting more up.
Pear Sauce is easy.
1 pot full of cut up pears
about 1/2 cup of water (just enough to get it all started till the pears form their own juice)
2-4 tablespoons of sugar (depending on how sweet your fruit is)
cinnamon to taste
Simmer on stove over low to medium low heat with lid loosely on pot, stirring occasionally till fruit is soft, 30-45 minutes. Then take a potato masher and mash to desired consistency. Place in jars and follow the directions for your canner/pressure cooker to seal. You can also freeze instead of canning.
ok, made a bunch of pear sauce, what next.....
Pie Filling, super easy!
Follow all the directions above except, DON'T MASH.
Still two boxes of pears to go.
Oh, and I've run out of my larger jars.
Pear Butter! Everyone loves apple butter, let's try it.
I found this recipe on allrecipes.com
All Day Apple Butter
I've made it twice now and was able to make a few adjustments the second time, here's my version
Pear Butter
Crock pot full of cut up pears, about 1 inch to the top
3 cups sugar (depending on the sweetness of your fruit you may want to increase or decrease this)
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
Place pears in crock pot. Sprinkle rest of ingredients over and mix in.
Cook on high for 1 hour. Stir.
Turn down to low and cook 11-16 hours. Remove lid and cook for 1 more hour.
By the time you are finished with the cooking, you will have about half as much fruit (volume wise) as when you started.
Now, make life easy for yourself. All Recipes said something about a whisk to make it smooth.
Get out the blender.
Just a few seconds is all it takes.
Now either place in jars or freezer containers.
I'm cooking up Jelly right now, and will update this post once it's done but wanted to get this on out.
A few other tips Mrs. Bobbie shared with me.
**Take the peels and cores, place in a pot, add a bit of water (just enough to get it started)
and simmer to create a syrup.
If your sauce is too thick or you need more juice for the jelly add this syrup instead of water.
This is also a good base to start a thick syrup.
****If you are canning. do not try to put that extra jar in your canner/pressure cooker to save time or use old jars.
I had 2 jars break, in my canner and the only things we have come up with for the reason were
-both were older jars
-I might not have had enough space between my jars in the canner and they hit each other while boiling.
One of my readers, Mona Hickey shared her recipes for Pear Preserves And Pear Honey! And she said I could also share these, thanks Mona!!!
From Mona:
First, my pear preserve recipe: 8 cups peeled pears, sliced or grated, 8 cups sugar, 1 can (20 oz.) crushed pineapple, Combine and cook for 1-1/2 to 2 hrs. Fill sterilized jars and seal. Note: Some like this better with sliced pears and some like it better with the grated pears. My personal preference is sliced.
Now for the pear honey: Put the peels and cores from your pears in a pot and cover them with water. Boil gently for about 30 minutes. Then strain the liquid through a cheesecloth. Add an 8 oz. can of pineapple juice and then measure the liquid. Add an equal amount of sugar. (I also add a few drops of yellow food coloring to make it look more like honey). Cook this mixture until it is the consistency of honey. Keep in mind that the mixture will thicken a little more when it cools. Pour into sterilized jars and seal. I like the pear honey better than the preserves.
I'll be trying the pear honey!!!!
First, my pear preserve recipe: 8 cups peeled pears, sliced or grated, 8 cups sugar, 1 can (20 oz.) crushed pineapple, Combine and cook for 1-1/2 to 2 hrs. Fill sterilized jars and seal. Note: Some like this better with sliced pears and some like it better with the grated pears. My personal preference is sliced.
Now for the pear honey: Put the peels and cores from your pears in a pot and cover them with water. Boil gently for about 30 minutes. Then strain the liquid through a cheesecloth. Add an 8 oz. can of pineapple juice and then measure the liquid. Add an equal amount of sugar. (I also add a few drops of yellow food coloring to make it look more like honey). Cook this mixture until it is the consistency of honey. Keep in mind that the mixture will thicken a little more when it cools. Pour into sterilized jars and seal. I like the pear honey better than the preserves.
I'll be trying the pear honey!!!!
I know this is an old post, but I saw this and thought I'd comment.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't say if you boiled the jars before filling them with the hot pear mash from the pear butter. In all fruit canning procedures, the fruit (mash, butter, syrup, sliced/halved fruit, whatever) must be hot and the jars they go into must be hot as well. This is (partly) to prevent the jars breaking, and (mostly) to prevent bacteria growth in your product.
I have been canning for years. My first memories of canning is the "production lines" we'd have in my grandma's garage during peach season. Grandpa would blanch the peaches in a huge pot of boiling water on the camp stove, then give them to my uncles and I to peel (and yes, at 5 I was allowed a pairing knife, things were different back then). Then they'd go on down the line to be cut and pitted and then cut into slices. While this was happening, Grandma would be inside the house making the hot simple syrup. Mom or one of the older "kids" would boil the jars to disinfect them and bring them up to temperature, another of the older "kids" would pack the peaches into a jar, and then grandma would add the syrup, cap the jars, and then grandpa would put them in a different pot of boiling water.
The jars would all touch, the water would be boiling away, and we never lost a jar.
Umm, sorry, got lost in the memory.
However, Grandma never lost a jar in canning, and neither have I (been making butters, sauces, jams, jellies, and syrups every year since 1987 on my own).
@Welshwmn# thanks so much for the comments and I love your memory. I have a few of those from time in the kitchen with my grandma, treasure them and pass them on.
ReplyDeleteAs to boiling my jars, yes I do, I didn't want this to be a lesson in canning, per say. I would prefer people find a more knowledgeable source than me for learning to can. After discussions with my dear friend Bobbie, we concluded that I was putting one too many jars in my pressure cooker and they hit each other causing the breaks.
Moral of the story, you're already taking the time to prepare and can something, don't rush your final steps.
I'm looking forward to spring to can more jellies already.
Thanks again for your comments and stop by anytime!
Hugs, Joan