# Pear jam?



## Falls-Acre (May 13, 2009)

I have all these pears, I'm making pear butter, I've canned several quarts in syrup, but I would like some jam. I can't seem to find a recipe though. Can it be done? Is it worth doing?


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## judylou (Jun 19, 2009)

Not a jam exactly because of the texture that results from cooking pears - they just don't 'jam' up.  But here is a pear preserves recipe.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_07/pear_preserves.html


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

I make a cinnamon pear jam that is a favorite with several co-workers who I've given it to.

Here is the basic, from Ball Complete Canning. It is a liquid pectin recipe, so the instructions to follow are for that type, I won't include the complete instructions here.

4 cups chopped ripe pears
1/3 c lemon juice
7 1/2c sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 pouch liquid pectin.

These are pears I get from co-workers, grown in SD, small, firm and not super sweet to eat. I make the riper ones into pear sauce to get through the pile fast.

I take 2 cups pear sauce and 2 cups chopped pears. I mix the pear sauce, lemon and sugar to a full boil, add the chopped pears and bring back to a boil, add the pectin and full boil for a minute and then can up as normal.

This stuff sets up firm, and the chopped pears don't get cooked down much so I still have some chunks of pears in the jam. 

Doing it this way - I end up with more jam than expected (sauce does not reduce as much as all chopped pears do).

This last batch I reduced the sugar to 6 1/2 cup and still have very thick jam. When I turn the jar over, the jam does not move at all. I think I'd actually prefer something less thick.

I have used store bought pears for the chopped ones, and used my already canned up sauce as the base to make a batch in the winter. That seemed to work OK but the store bought pears cooked to almost nothing even in the small amount of time they were cooked. 

I also made a batch of pear mincemeat to use the pears up. That turned out tasty but I have not used it in anything yet so I'm not sure how I'll like it over all.

Cathy


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## Use Less (Nov 8, 2007)

One of the brands of dry pectin has instructions for freezer jam of pears. It doesn't gel up very much, is mostly a thick sugar-syrup sort of thing w/a little pear taste. Sue


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## Forest (Oct 14, 2010)

Yes! Pears make excellent jam. Here is my grandfather's recipe. 

2 parts pears, cut to whatever size you like in your jam.
1 part sugar
one clove per pound of total weight (i.e. three for two lbs pear, 1 lb sugar)
appropriate amount of pectin

The trick is to mix everything and place in the fridge overnight. This draws juice out of the pears (mix once or twice so sugar dissolves more evenly). Then on the next day, you boil it quick and hard, just enough for the pectin to set. That way, the pieces of pear aren't cooked to mush, and the juices set into a nice jam surrounding them.

Fill the boiling mixture into clean jars, close, and turn around immediately so that they stand on the lid (wearing oven mitts). Let cool like this, then clean outsides of jars. This way, the hot jam sterilizes the entire jar and lid, and will keep for years. 

I know that's not the party line on canning safety. However, my family has made jam this way for at least the last four generations, and I am not aware of any ill effects or spoiled jams... enjoy


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## GrannyG (Mar 26, 2005)

We love what is called Pear Honey around here....Just cooked down pears with sugar, then add a can of crushed pineapple and cook down for hours till nice and thick...wonderful on hot biscuits on a cold morning.......I also fixed some pears this week with LoriChristies chocolate mint leaves and we had minted pears for breakfast, they were wonderful. We love pears........


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## Granny Sue (Jan 12, 2009)

I have a pear conserve recipe on my blog. Click here to see the recipe and photos.http://grannysu.blogspot.com/2008/12/spiced-pear-conserve.html


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## GrannyG (Mar 26, 2005)

Granny Sue...your recipe looks wonderful....will try it, still doing pears this week..thanks for sharing...


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## Granny Sue (Jan 12, 2009)

Welcome! They make great cider too, ya know


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## Junkman (Dec 17, 2005)

We used to can what we call here in the mountains, Winter Pears. They are a very hard pear and we don't pick until after the first frost.
My question, Mother and I canned them with red-hot cinnamon candies in the syrup. They were real spicy and nice and pink. I am not sure how many we added to the syrup. Guess I can just do a trial and error. Jklady


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