Ingredients

8 quarts of pearsauce (See step 1)
1.5 teaspoons nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon Allspice
2 teaspoons grated orange peel (just the surface, not the spongy white part) or 1 teaspoon orange extract
1 cup orange juice
6 cups sugar


Jar grabber (to pick up the hot jars)
Lid lifter (has a magnet to pick the lids out of the boiling water where you sterilize them. ($2 at Target, other big box stores, and often grocery stores; and available online - see this page)
Jar funnel ($2 at Target, other big box stores, and often grocery stores; and available online - see this page)
1 Crock pot (slow cooker)
Large spoons and ladles
1 Canner (a huge pot to sterilize the jars of pear butter after filling (about $30 to $35 at mall kitchen stores, sometimes at big box stores and grocery stores.))
Ball jars (Grocery stores, like Publix, Kroger, Safeway carry them, as do some big box stores - about $8 per dozen quart jars including the lids and rings)

Instructions

Step 1 - Make unsweetened pear sauce!

You can use store bought pearsauce (if you can find it), but the pear butter won't taste nearly as good. So if you haven't made some pearsauce yet start here with how to make applesauce. (You make it JUST like making applesauce) .

Step 2 - Fill the crock pot

Fill the crock pot to within an inch of full with pearsauce,using a regular large pot on very low heat.t.

Step 3 -Add the spices:

1.5 teaspoons nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon Allspice
2 teaspoons grated orange or 1 teaspoon orange extract
1 cup orange juice
6 cups sugar

Step 4 - Cook the Pear butter

Set the crock pot on low or medium heat.
Cover it loosely or use a large pot splatter-guard. It will spatter as it boils slowly. You don't want to seal it tightly because you want the steam to escape so it can reduce in volume and thicken.

It will reduce in volume by about half overnight. As it cooks down (the next morning), add the remaining pearsauce (about 2 or 3 quarts) and 2 more cups of sugar. Then let it cook a couple of hours more to mix the flavors.

Step 5 - Blend the pear butter (optional)

You want a smooth, creamy texture, right? The easiest way is to use a hand-held drink blender. It does a great job of making it smooth. You can also put it into a regular blender, but if you are going to do that, you might want to blend the pear sauce before you put it in the crock pot (it will be much thicker afterwards and won't move in a regular blender). Another visitor says running it through a food mill with a fine screen or through a sieve works, too.

Tips:

Too thick? if the pear butter cooks down too much or is too thick for your liking, just add a little bit of pear juice and blend it in.
Not thick enough? Just let it cook some more, with the lid off so the steam can escape!

Step 7 - Fill the jars

Fill them to within ¼-inch of the top, pear butter of the top, seat the lid and tighten the ring around them. Put them in the canner and keep them cover with at least 1 inch of water and boiling. if you are at sea level (up to 1,000 ft) boil pint jars for 5 minutes and quart jars for 10 min. If you are at an altitude of 1,000 feet or more, see the chart at the bottom of this page.

Step 8 - Done

Lift the jars out of the water and let them cool without touching or bumping them in a draft-free place (usually takes overnight) You can then remove the rings if you like. Once the jars are cool, you can check that they are sealed verifying that the lid has been sucked down. Just press in the center, gently, with your finger. If it pops up and down (often making a popping sound), it is not sealed. If you put the jar in the refrigerator right away, you can still use it. Some people replace the lid and reprocess the jar, then that's a bit iffy. If you heat the contents back up, re-jar them (with a new lid) and the full time in the canner, it's usually ok.

MY NOTES



my notes

jan's canning