Pears

Project #6 Canning/bottling/preserving pears

We started with two 36-38 lb cases of Utah pears. Yum! I (Mer) have done pears before. Molly had not so we needed to do pears so she could decide if it was worth the trouble.

Peel pears using a fruit/vegetable peeler. They skin cannot be blanched off like peaches or tomatoes. Bummer.

Cut in half and remove core.

Pack in quart bottles and add syrup (we use extra light) to 1/2 inch head space. Process for 30 minutes in a water bath or steam canner. BTW, I love my steam canner. A friend at church convinced me to buy one. It uses way less water than a water bath canner so it heats up faster and does not create as much heat in the kitchen. Process times are the same as for water bath.

Yummy pears still bubbly hot!

We were going to run out of jars after 20 quarts and still had lot of pears left. We decided to make baby food and pear butter. Cut, quarter, and cook until soft.

Run through a blender and then press through a sieve to remove skins and excess bulk.

At this point you have baby food. We freeze in ice cube trays. Each cube is 1 ounce. We each made 8 cups of baby food. I have more ready to freeze in the fridge.

Now, on to the pear butter. (2 qts pulp, 4 c. sugar, 1/4 c OJ, nutmeg). Cook and stir until thick and "mounds in a spoon."

"Just keep stirring, just keep stirring, just keep stirring, stirring stirring stirring..."

PSA: No one tells you that this stirring and thickening part can take 2 hours or that your kitchen will look like this picture of my microwave or that you will get splatter burns on your arms. And your ear. And your toes. Moving on...

My half of the haul. Molly took hers home already. 10 quarts of bottled pears, 2 1/2 pints pear butter, and 8 cups pear baby food. Oh, I kept the extra 1/2 pint of pear butter since I get to clean my kitchen. Goodness; it is a sticky mess!

For lunch: Corn chips with homemade salsa, quacomole and pinto beans and peanut butter pie.