Preserving our blessings one by one!

Whew, it's nice to be out of the kitchen! After our two families collected and sorted our yummy apples and pears (please note: I've decided to just call these apple-pears "asian pears"), Labronda and I got together for a day or so of canning/preserving!

(Two of our little helpers!)

It is always so much more fun when you do something as tedious as that with a friend! And we had a blast...but whew were we tired after having been on our feet for so long! And we still didn't get to do all that we wanted to do, so we split up the fruit once more!

So after a few days of looking at all of that fruit, I decided we just had to finish up what we had started (come this winter, we'll be thankful to be tasting yummy fruits!), so when Ricci called to say he was on his way home from work, he asked if there was anything that he could bring...I did put in a request for some 4-oz. jars...knowing that I couldn't find them anywhere! After about 30 minutes, here he came...with some 4-oz. jars! That guy's amazing....he got them at Ace Hardware! I would have never thought to check there! Well, now I know! It was funny to hear him tell of the jars' sealing themselves as he drove up to our house! Thanks, Ricci!

And there's still more to do!

Pear Honey

"This tastes so much like honey, your friends will never believe that the bees did not make it."

Ingredients:
8 cups peeled, cored and chopped pears
1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
8 cups white sugar

Directions:
Place chopped pears into a large pot, and pour pineapple juice over them to prevent them from browning. Stir in sugar, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir frequently to prevent scorching. When the pears are at a full boil, reduce heat to medium, and cook until the mixture is the color and texture of honey. The longer you cook it, the thicker it gets. Ladle into hot sterile jars, filling to within 1/4 inch of the top. Wipe rims with a clean damp cloth and seal jars with lids and rings. Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes.

Pear Preserves

Ingredients:

3 quarts pears, sliced or chopped
3 cups water
4 1/2 cups granulated sugar
6 slices lemon

Directions:

Wash and pare fruit. Cook until tender in water. Remove fruit and make a syrup of the liquid and sugar. Add fruit to partially cooled syrup and bring gently to a boil. Add lemon slices. Boil rapidly until fruit is clear and tender. Let stand in syrup to cool. Remove lemon. Pour fruit into sterilized jars. Reheat syrup to boiling and pour over fruit. Seal each jar as filled.

Pear Apple Jam Recipe

Ingredients:

4 C. diced pears
4 C. diced tart apples 5 T. lemon juice
5 C. sugar

Grated rind of 1 lemon

Directions:

Peel and dice fruit. Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Boil about 20 minutes. Take from heat and allow to stand for 10 minutes to plump. Bring back to boil stirring frequently until mixture is thick and clear (about 10 minutes). Pour into sterilized Kerr jars to within 1/4 inch of top. Put on cap, screw band firmly tight. Process in Boiling Water Bath 10 minutes.