Pear Preserves Recipe makes an amazing topping for toast, ice cream or peanut butter sandwich.
Wash pears, peel and core.
Slice into 1/2 inch slices dropping them
into a pan of cold water as you slice to help prevent turning brown.
While preparing pears, stir together water. sugar and citric acid in a large saucepan.
Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Stir in pear slices and boil gently for 15 minutes.
Cool and store in refrigerator 12-24 hours to allow pear slices to plump up.
Remove pears from refrigerator.
Strain liquid or dip out pears with a
slotted spoon.
Put pear syrup on medium heat and boil until syrup is
thickened to a light jelly like consistency.*
Takes about 10-25 minutes.
Fill jars.
While jars are being filled pour enough water in caner to fill
one half full.
Place on medium heat and start heating to 180F. degrees.
Add
pears to the hot syrup in saucepan just until heated.
No need to cook the pears any longer or they will get too mushy.
Unless, of course you
want them mashed.
For canning, use ONLY jars that are
manufactured for canning.
Heat the jars and lids in simmering water 180F., for at least 10 minutes.
Make sure the jars and lids are covered
with water.
Carefully, using canning equipment, lift the hot jars out of the
water and fill with preserved pears to 1/2 inch from top of jar giving
them head space to expand.
Ladle the syrup over the pears leaving
1/4 inch head space.
You will probably have syrup leftover in this particular Pear Preserves Recipe, after filling the jars.
Can it separately to use on pancakes, etc. or cook it more to
a firm gel consistency making jelly.
Some folks like a thin jelly to pour over their hot buttered Waffles and Pancakes.
If bubbles appear to be
in the jar, remove them with a nonmetallic spatula or wooden spoon by
gently poking inside the jar to let the air bubbles rise up and out.
As
you fill each jar, wipe the top rim with a clean cloth removing any
residue that might have dropped on it, and place lid on making sure the
sealing compound is touching the glass rim.
As you fill each jar,
screw on the outer ring or band as it is now called, until lightly or
snugly tightened.
Do not tighten it as hard as you can because it could
cause breakage.
The lid needs enough room to pop up and then pop down
to seal.
Place filled jars on canning rack.
Lower the rack into
the caner that is half filled with water.
Add enough water to cover
jars 2 inches.
Bring to a boil and process 20 minutes.
Turn off
heat, let cool 5 minutes.
Remove jars (the are hot), with a jar lifter and
place on a clean towel.
Let cool in a draft free place.
No electric
fans.
If lids have sealed the lid will be concave (sunken).
If they have not sealed yet, they will appear convex (curved upward).
Most
of the time they are not sealed until they start to cool and you will
hear a popping sound when the lid seals and see the lid sunken in.
You will hear the jars popping very soon after taking them out of the hot water.
Before
storing any canned foods, the bands or rings should be removed and jars
and rims wiped with a clean cloth to remove any residue that might have
gotten on jars during the processing.
*To test liquid for
gelling, place a small amount of the syrup on a saucer that has been in
the freezer a few minutes and place it back in the freezer.
You should
see a jelly like substance when removed from the freezer.
If not, cook
your syrup a little longer and try the test again.
If you have never canned or made preserves before, this Pear Preserves Recipe might seems daunting.
But, after you make it the first time, I think you will add it to your recipe repertoire!
I hope you enjoyed this recipe.
There is lots of satisfaction in
knowing you have made from scratch, delicious foods, saving hard earned
money to help the family budget all the while knowing exactly what goes
in your canned foods.
With the season approaching for an abundance
of fresh fruits and vegetables ready for our picking, it is a great
time to get started (if you haven't already) canning with old fashioned
recipes.
I recommend Painless Cooking Website for additional, easy to follow, complete instructions.