Ingredients

Pears (see step 1
Sugar (or fruit juice, or Splenda, or just water!)

Syrup for Packing
Prepare light or medium syrup. I prefer light syrup. Simply heat water and sugar in a sauce pan until sugar dissolves.

Very Light 6 1/2 water 3/4 cup sugar
•Light - 2 cups sugar to 1-quart water
•Medium - 3 cups sugar to 1-quart water
You can also make a syrup with honeyif you don't want to use processed sugar. •light - 1 1/2 cups honey to 4 cups water
•medium - 2 cups honey to 4 cups water

Instructions

Prepare your choice of syrup. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to just keep hot.

Peel, core and slice your pears in half. Cut out any bruised areas.

Place peeled and sliced pears into an citric acid solution. This commercial product prevents browning. Follow the directions on the package. Or use a lemon juice and water mixture.

I prefer the lemon juice just because I usually have lemon juice on hand. I believe the reccomendation is 3/4 cup to 1 gallon water... but I almost never need a gallon of pretreatment. I use 1 cup lemon juice to 2 quarts water... it is stronger than needed but my pears always stay nice and bright.

I've also seen it suggested to simply slice the pears directly into the jars and add lemon juice to the jars. 2T for a quart. I've not done this but I may try it next time.
When you have enough pears prepared, drain and add pears to your hot syrup. Cook pears 5-6 minutes in your syrup. Just enough to heat through. You don't want to over cook but a hot pack works best with pears.

Using a slotted spoon, pack hot pears into hot jars.

Cover with the same syrup you cooked in, leaving a 1/2 inch head space.
Wipe the rims clean, remove any air bubbles and place your lids.

For more details follow water bath canning instructions.

Process
Pints for 20 minutes, quarts 25 minutes

MY NOTES

jan's canning