Pears are ripening on my dining room table and kitchen counter. There is little room for anything else. The first round of those ripened (13 pounds) have been canned and frozen. Here's the scoop...
While canning apples recently I was counting down the final minutes for the water bath and saw on Facebook that someone in the neighborhood was giving away free pears from their tree only a couple blocks away. And to boot, the pears were already picked and bagged (three grocery bags full). I was the early bird at the scene, and I asked if I could take all three bags. The man said, "Sure! We will be giving away more!" About half ripened and have been made into a purée and frozen. I did this last year with some foraged pears and it made for some great smoothies. I have 2 quarts. And this batch needed no sweetening at all.
Last weekend, after picking elderberries with Intimidating Minnow, I visited my friend Dawn who lives out by the lake. We took a bag of elderberries to her, and she let us pick pears and apples from her property. Half of these pears ripened and I canned them with apple juice and cinnamon. The quality of these pears were excellent! These are one of the more costly things I have canned so far (ha ha) with about $.50 worth of cinnamon (I bought a bunch of spices this past spring at the grocery store for 50% off) and $1.00 of apple juice. I've not had to buy jars, yet, as I'm still reusing old jars and collecting them from family and friends. I did have to put new lids on of course. But anyway... extravagant! ;) I'll be eating organic, spiced pears for about 30 cents a pint.
Pear purée:
Image credit: Cale Ruiz
While canning apples recently I was counting down the final minutes for the water bath and saw on Facebook that someone in the neighborhood was giving away free pears from their tree only a couple blocks away. And to boot, the pears were already picked and bagged (three grocery bags full). I was the early bird at the scene, and I asked if I could take all three bags. The man said, "Sure! We will be giving away more!" About half ripened and have been made into a purée and frozen. I did this last year with some foraged pears and it made for some great smoothies. I have 2 quarts. And this batch needed no sweetening at all.
Last weekend, after picking elderberries with Intimidating Minnow, I visited my friend Dawn who lives out by the lake. We took a bag of elderberries to her, and she let us pick pears and apples from her property. Half of these pears ripened and I canned them with apple juice and cinnamon. The quality of these pears were excellent! These are one of the more costly things I have canned so far (ha ha) with about $.50 worth of cinnamon (I bought a bunch of spices this past spring at the grocery store for 50% off) and $1.00 of apple juice. I've not had to buy jars, yet, as I'm still reusing old jars and collecting them from family and friends. I did have to put new lids on of course. But anyway... extravagant! ;) I'll be eating organic, spiced pears for about 30 cents a pint.
Pear purée:
- Wash, core, and chop pears into chunks...nothing tiny, don't go crazy. You can leave the skins on your chunks.
- Simmer with a small amount of water...for 7 pounds start with a half cup. Then stir consistently.
- Once pears are tender, remove from heat and let sit for 20 minutes or so.
- Run all the liquids and pieces through a food mill.
- Return purée to the stove and simmer until reduced to the thickness you like. Sweeten if needed.
- Just follow this simple recipe from Ball. (6 pounds of pears gave me 6 well-packed pints.)
Image credit: Cale Ruiz