I'm trying to find recipes for canning and preserving Pears. My Mom had several recipes that I loved as a kid but unfortunately she's gone now and no-one seems to know what happened to all her canning recipes. The ones I'm really interested in are as follows;
PEAR RELISH (SWEET) better than any sweet pickle relish I've ever tasted.
PEAR BUTTER, just like apple butter but very unique and delicious flavor.
Mom also had a way canning PEARS in their natural juices just like you'd buy in the store my attempts do duplicate her method have all failed miserably...
Pear Butter Wash pears. Bo not peel. Slice. Add small amount water to start cooking. Cook until very soft. Press thru sieve. To each cup of pulp add 1/2 c. sugar. spices as desired...1/2 tsp cinnamon to each 3 c. pulp. Cook until thick, stirring frequently to prevent scorching. Pour into sterilized jars to within 1/2 inch of top. Process in boiling water bath 10 minutes.
This is pretty bland for me so I use the same recipe as I do for apple butter.... 16 c. thick pulp 1 c. vinegar 8 c. sugar 4 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. cloves
Core and slice apples but do not peel. Cook in very sml amount water until soft. Run through sieve. Process same as above. My family is addicted to this apple butter and the pear is just as good.
This will be my first year doing canning/freezing (and of all times to live 2k miles away from my momma!) I have a pear, apple and plum tree, along with tons of wild blackberries! My mom shares all her recipes with me, especially the amish and triedntrue Bohemian/German family recipes....I'll keep you posted!
For preserving fruit, one of my favorite ways is to have a fruit and syrup. That preserves the look of the fruit and its nature and color and its shape, sometimes way better than a jelly or a marmalade in terms of having something unique and special. So we're going now to prepare the syrup.
We have two basic kinds of sugar that we can use for making a syrup. You can use white sugar, you can use brown sugar; you will choose either one depending on whether what you care about is looks or if you care about flavor. White sugar will give you the perfect shape and look of your fruit and so on and it will look wonderful in the jar and it will be very, very good. But if you really care about the flavor and you don't care so much that the jar looks a little bit dark, then you will go for dark sugar. For this instance, we will use white sugar. And basically the mix will be about one cup of sugar for every two cups of water. And you will want to make enough syrup to fill completely the canning jars that you are using so you'll want to prepare a lot.
The most common condiments for fruits will be cinnamon and most people enjoy having a dash of cloves. Be careful with cloves though- it can be too strong for many people.
I have a pear tree that is loaded every year. This past year I would peel, core and slice. Cook for a short time and add cinnamon candies (red hots), stir until dissolved. The red hots make it a pretty pink and has good flavor. This is good to eat right away or freeze in containers.
My suggestion is to become a member of CreativeCanning Cuisine@Yahoogroup.com. It has over 750 members and is a forum where members participate much like ThriftyFun.
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