# Freezing Pears



## Country Lady (Oct 2, 2003)

I'm still trying to do something with all these pears our tree is blessing us with, even though I've given part of them away. A friend gave me this pear cake recipe. We've decided to freeze shredded pears with sugar to use for this recipe. I'm putting 2 cups pears with 1 cup sugar in each quart freezer bag. I'll have to use two bags for making this cake, but quart bags will stack better in my freezer. I peel, quarter, remove core, and put in lemon/pineapple/water while continuing to peel. Then, I'm using my food processor to shred. They are turning a little dark, but when baking with cinnamon the cake would turn a cinnamon color anyway.

*Fresh Pear Cake*

4 cups fresh pears - including peeling - grated (I peeled mine)
2 cups sugar
1 cup pecans - chopped
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs - beaten
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon or nutmeg

Combine pears, sugar, and pecans. Set aside for at least an hour to accumulate juice. Mix all ingredients together with a wooden spoon - do not use an electric mixer. Bake in an oiled and floured Bundt pan at 350* for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cake is more moist after "setting" for a day.


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## mpennington (Dec 15, 2012)

Your cake sounds delicious. 

I do a similar process with my pears without the sugar. I peel, halve and core into pineapple juice or water with added ascorbic acid or lemon juice. Then I remove from the juice/water and cube for smoothies. I place the cubes back into the juice/water for five minutes, then spin in a salad spinner before bagging in 1 cup snack size zip locks to freeze. Made 120 packs year before last, but I'm short on freezer space this year so am canning and dehydrating only.

If I'm going to dehydrate, I use my food processor to slice the halves. I place pineapple juice into the bowl of my food processor and slice the pears into the juice. I like the additional flavor the pineapple juice gives the slices, seem sweeter. Again, I let the pears sit in the juice for 5 minutes before spinning dry and placing on the dehydrator trays. My pears stay a nice color and don't turn brown. I think it's the second soak in the juice/water. All the cut sides of pear are covered with the solution.


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