Best Winter Pear Conserve Recipes

PEAR PRESERVES - PEAR JAM WITH VANILLA RECIPE

Steps:

• Peel, quarter and cut the pears into chunks.
• Place the fruit pieces into a big jam cooking pot and add in the sugar.
• Slit open a vanilla bean and scratch out with a butter knife or small spoon the vanilla bean paste.
• Add the paste and the whole vanilla bean to the pot with the other ingredients and mix it all well.
• Keep the pot with the fruits on the stove, cook on slow heat for about 45 mins, while stirring frequently, until you can see a rolling boil.
• Keep cooking pear preserves until it has visibly reduced and appears translucent.
• Test if the jam is set with a candy thermometer. The setting temperature is 210° Fahrenheit or 105° Celsius. Or drop some of the preserve on a cold plate or spoon and if it's not running it is set. If it runs, keep the jam for some more time to cook on low heat and repeat the test until you have the correct consistency.
• Take out the vanilla bean and discard.
• Reduce jam to a smoother consistency with a hand blender. I like to keep a few fruit pieces to give the jam some character.
• Pour hot jam into clean sterilized jars and fill up to the rim.
• Drop some vodka or rum into the lid to kill further bacteria. (optional)
• Close the jar with the lid and turn upside down to create a vacuum.
• Allow the jam to cool down, label and store in a cool and dry place.

PEAR PRESERVES

Steps:

• In a stockpot, combine pears, sugar, water and lemon juice; bring to a boil. Cook, uncovered, 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until mixture reaches a thick, spreadable consistency. , Remove from heat. Ladle hot mixture into seven hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/4-in. headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot mixture. Wipe rims. Center lids on jars; screw on bands until fingertip tight., Place jars into canner, ensuring that they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil; process for 10 minutes. Remove jars and cool.

PEAR CONSERVE

Steps:

• Peel, halve and core your pears.
• Dice the pears finely, but not as small as brunoise. I am not going to go into detail here, but one thing I must say is keep your peeled pears submerged in a bowl of water and lemon juice so that they do not oxidize (turn brown).
• In a large, non-reactive (glass, plastic, ceramic) container, layer the sugar and the diced pears. Start with a thin layer of sugar on the bottom and end with sugar covering the top.
• Drizzle the lemon juice over the top layer.
• Close this container tightly and refrigerate overnight (for at least 18 and up to 24 hours).
• Next day, pour out the pears and the syrup they have formed into a deep pot.
• Scrape out the bottom layer of sugar into your pot as well.
• Bring this mix to a boil over high heat, uncovered, stirring.
• When the conserve is quite hot but not boiling, add the pear brandy. It should boil all at once. Stir well.
• Boil the conserve to thicken it and expel alcohol. For true, syrupy conserve, do not overcook. Boil for a scant 3 - 5 minutes. The conserve is done.
• The conserve can be waterbath canned. Properly prepared 6 - 8 oz glass containers should be processed for 10 minutes.

FRESH PEAR PRESERVES

Steps:

• In a stockpot, combine pears, sugar, water and lemon juice; bring to a boil. Cook, uncovered, 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until mixture reaches a thick, spreadable consistency.
• Remove from heat. Ladle hot mixture into seven hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/4-in. headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot mixture. Wipe rims. Center lids on jars; screw on bands until fingertip tight.
• Place jars into canner, ensuring that they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil; process for 10 minutes. Remove jars and cool. Yield: 7 half-pints.

OLD-FASHIONED PEAR PRESERVES

Steps:

• Day 1:.
• Peel and core pears. Slice or dice into pieces of desired size.
• Place pears in a large bowl and add an equal amount of sugar by weight (e.g. 4 lbs of pears = 4 lbs of sugar) Add juice of one lemon. Zest is optional, but adds a nice flavor. Stir gently to distribute sugar. Leave in refrigerator overnight. Stir several times to coat fruit with syrup.
• Day 2:.
• Place pears and syrup in a large pot. Bring to a boil, boil 10 minutes. Reduce heat to simmer and cook an additional 15-20 minutes until pears are translucent and candied. Turn off heat and leave pears in syrup overnight (no need to refrigerate). Place a clean dish towel under pot lid to prevent condensation.
• Day 3:.
• Remove pears from syrup, straining all syrup back into the pot. Bring syrup to a boil and cook to desired thickness (usually around 220 degrees). Test doneness by dropping syrup onto a frozen plate. It should gel almost immediately. When ready add pears back to syrup and remove from heat. Stir gently for approximately 10 minutes as preserves cool. This will keep the fruit distributed in the syrup and prevent it floating to the top of your jars.
• Place preserves in sterilized jars leaving 1/2 inch of head space. If packing hot jars, process in boiling water bath for 5 minutes. For cold jars, process 10 minutes.
• Leave jars undisturbed for 24 hours to cool and set. Enjoy!