Guilted by a Pear Tree

After canning 7 pints of pears I wasn’t feeling like canning more. We’d had a full day of tomatoes, pears, pear butter, and pear preserves and I just didn’t feel like it. Then I talked to a friend who had emergency surgery and was jealous of our tree filled with pears and how she wished she could can them. Well.. ok then… I’ll do another bucket. So I used our picker – we have a SUPER long fruit picker since our pear tree is almost as tall as our house (until this winter when we do some life changing pruning). I was able to get 11 more pints of pears to enjoy this winter. I probably have about 100 more pints in the trees! We’ll see how adventuresome I get. I do love this method of fruit canning – it’s really easy. You fill the jar as tightly as you can with fruit, top with sugar, boiling water, put in the canner. No syrup, no mess. Love it. Ok ok… maybe I’ll do more again! I guess…

Take the skins off your pears. Cut pears into slices and place in clean jars. Heat a pot of water. Now add the sugar to the jars on top of your fruit. 2 tablespoons per pint makes a nice light syrup. Add more for a heavier syrup–up to about 1/4 cup per pint. Double those quantities if you’re canning in quart jars.
Then pour your hot water into the jar over the fruit and sugar and prepare to process the jar as you normally would. The sugar will dissolve in the water as the fruit is in the canner.
Wipe jar rims and threads. Place lids and bands on jars. Place jars on rack in deep stockpot of hot water from step 1. Cover, bring to a boil and process 25 minutes for pints, 30 minutes for quarts. Remove jars from hot water and place, not touching, on dish towel and cover. Cool several hours or overnight. Test seals before storing.