canning my own homegrown pears

these are the pears from my pear trees that didnt get sunburned and ripen unevenly out in the greenhouse. i'd pulled half of those and put them in the fridge for a couple days after reading they needed to be cooled before they'd ripen. then i put them out on the counter to ripen. so these are the ones that ripened nicely. some ripened quicker than others and got put back in the fridge while the others caught up. oh, and that kinda white powder looking stuff on some of the pears, its condensation from the early ripeners that i had just taken out of the fridge.


sterilize the jars and rings


my setup. bowl on the right is closest to the stove, where i'll drop the pears into after blanching and peel them. bowl on the left is where i'll move the pears after they've been peeled. lemons are to prevent browning. we had trouble with our peaches turning brown in the jar, and these pears were so sweet, i used extra lemons just to be sure.


my stove setup. i only have about 15" of countertop on either side of the stove. and while convenient for most cooking, its a little awkward for canning. so i have to do the blanch/peeling, and cutting and jar filling, on the counter across from the stove. another problem i'm having, the over the range microwave is also a vent hood. but its too low. both my regular canner (that has a leak i need to repair) and the pressure canner barely fit. when i get money, i'll redo the cabinets on that side of the kitchen, raising them up and putting in a proper vent hood. someday... anyway, the stove. left front, plain water blanching pot. left rear, lid boiling pot. right rear, sugar water light syrup.


blanching the pears


after blanching in boiling water, you quickly cool the pears in cold water. (some of the pears did still get a little sunburnt from their limited time in the greenhouse, but were still ok).


after blanching properly, the pear skin just rubs off. (which is why theres a separate bowl for the blanching/peeling, this bowl fills up with peels).


after blanching and peeling, you move the peeled pear to a clean bowl of water (with lemon to prevent browning) for holding until you cut it up. when you're doing it all yourself... you have to do it in batches. blanch a bunch. peel a bunch. cut up a bunch.


cut out the core and seeds. slice how you wish. with my mom and brother, sometimes we filled jars with pear halves. sometimes quarters. and sometimes slices. you fit the most in jars with slices. and since my canner isnt operable at the moment, i can only do pint jars in my stock pot. so pint jars it is, and slices fit better.


the bowl of pear peels needs to be changed. to do that you need to strain out the peels (not pour them down the drain). add in the cores. makes great compost!


5 pint jars boiling in my makeshift stock pot canner


not all table tops or countertops can handle the heat. my parents kitchen table is wood and a couple of generations old. so out of habit, to protect the surface, we usually put down one towel, then an airbake pan, then another towel or two. that way, when you place the boiling jars onto it, it helps dissipate the heat rather than heat up the surface underneath. i did it that way this time too, not knowing how 1970's countertop would hold up.


my mom sent up 10 jars for me, and i filled them all.


the leftover pears i cut up and made pear crisp with. under that crispy topping is ultra sweet home grown pears. i cut the sugar in the recipe in half. these pears were SO unbelievably sweet.