Pear Butter
Cooking your food slowly is one of the best ways to draw out its own natural sweetness, fully and completely marry its ingredients and to fill your home with the magical aromas of autumn. Making pear butter is one of my favorite fall traditions and this year I want to share our Swiss family recipe forward with you all. This pear butter is silky smooth and requires very little active time in the kitchen thanks to the help it takes from your slow cooker. Spread it on toast, cover over your pork chop, or just eat it out of the jar with a spoon.
Prep Time: 10 min
Ingredients:
3 lbs. Mt. View Orchards ripe Bartlett pears, peeled, cored and diced
3 Tbsp. honey or sugar (optional)
3 tablespoons apple cider
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch of ground nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
Directions:
1. Peel and core the Bartlett pears. It is important to peel them because just under pear peels there are specialized cells called scleroids that can have a gritty texture. Peeling the pears will give your finished pear butter a silkier texture.
2. Cut the peeled, cored pears into no larger than 1-inch chunks.
Cook Time: 300 min
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3. Combine the chopped pears together with the apple juice, honey or sugar and all the spices. Cover and cook on the high setting for 4-5 hours, until pears are soft in your slow cookers.
4. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pears to a food mill(or blender) to make your pear sauce extra smooth. Reserve any cooking liquid left behind in the slow cooker. Puree the pears, adding just enough of the cooking liquid to get a thick, spreadable consistency and Enjoy. You may also make a bigger batch and water bath can your pear butter and enjoy it or share it forward year round.
2. For canning transfer the pear butter to clean half or quarter pint canning jars, using a butter knife, spoon, or your scrupulously clean fingers to press out any air bubbles. Leave 1/2-inch head space between the top of the food and the rim of each jar. It is not necessary to sterilize the jars for this recipe. Screw on 2-piece canning lids. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes depending on your altitude.
Canning Farm Fresh Peaches
I absolutely love that canning is making a come back. I learned how to can in 4-H from my mother and recently I had a few friends ask for a canning lesson. We started a canning club, called "Yes we Can," and put up over 60 quarts in one evening. The reason why canning your own peaches matters is that there is nothing that you can purchase in the store that even compares to the taste of canning your own peaches. When you can your own peaches you know without a doubt that there is no chemicals, preservatives, corn-syrup or dyes added. The favor is fantastic and the syrup is not overly sweet. When my tummy hurt as a child, my kind mother would often open up a jar of her canned peaches for me to enjoy. This gesture was always filled with so much care and love. Canned peaches are healing to me and remind me that giving away a can of peaches is a beautiful way to share jar filled with love. Come up to Mt. View Orchards and purchase some of our lovely peaches. Get some of your friends or family together and start a canning club.
Prep Time: 30 min
Ingredients:
24 Mt. View Orchards Early Elberta Peaches
3 cups medium syrup
Yields 7 quarts
Directions:
1. Make a medium simple syrup by boiling 8.25 cups of water with 3.75 cups of white sugar until the sugar has dissolved completely, then turn the burner off and set aside.
2. Fill your water bath 3/4 full with water and bring to boil.
Canning Time: 10 min
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3. Boil water in an additional large pot to blanche the skins off the peaches. Place peaches in the boiling water with a ladle. After the tree-ripened peaches have been in boiling water for 2 minutes then place them in cold water for easy peeling.
4. Then cut the peaches in half or quarters, remove the pit and pack them face down into 7 sterilized quart jars to the rim.
5. Fill the jars with the medium syrup nearly to the top, then clean the sides and the top of the jars before adding the 2-piece lid and rim.
6. Place with canning tongs into the boiling water bath and depending on your altitude boil them for 10-20 minutes.
7. Remove canned peaches with tongs from the water bath and place them on your counter. Wait to hear those glorious pops, indicating your seal is complete. Enjoy them all year!
