Another thing my friends and I cooked up this past weekend was pear butter. It is incredibly good! This recipe (adapted from Bon Appétit) has cardamom, wine, and vanilla, to give it a floral note as opposed to the exact flavorings of the traditional apple butter. I’m adapting the recipe after doing it the harder way, but I am glad I tried it so you can have the easier way to do it. Pear butter is perfect for spreading on anything you would normally put butter on: toast, muffins, brie. You can even top your granola and yogurt with it (my favorite way). It is great for you, but your friends will surely want some too!
Pear Butter
Ingredients: 4 pounds Bartlett pears (cored and peeled) cut into 1-inch cubes 1/2 cup dry white wine 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 1 1/2 cups sugar 4 orange slices 1 lemon slice 4 whole cloves 1 tbsp vanilla 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom Pinch of saltDirections:
Combine pears, wine and lemon juice in heavy large saucepan. Cover and simmer until pears are soft, pushing unsubmerged pears into liquid occasionally, about 25 minutes. *Transfer to a food processor and puree.
*At this point the recipe called to pass unpeeled pears through a foodmill. I founds this to be more work than necessary. It is easier to peel and core the pears beforehand, and then after they are poached, transfer them to a food processor.
Return puree to heavy large sauce-pan. Add remaining ingredients. *Helpful hint: If you have a cheesecloth or even a coffee filter would work tied with kitchen twine- put the ingredients you will need to fish out in the end, here; your cloves, cinnamon, orange slices, and lemon. It makes it much easier in the end. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium and boil gently until mixture thickens and mounds slightly on spoon stirring often, about 50 minutes. If it has been 50 minutes and your pear butter is still not thickened up, don’t be afriad to continue reducing it at a lower heat. It will be about the consistency of apple sauce. Also remember it will thicken slightly once cool.
Discard fruit slices, cloves, and cinnamon. Spoon butter into hot canning jar, filling only to 1/4 inch form top. Immediately wipe rim, using towel dipped into hot water. Place lid on jar; seal tightly. Repeat with remaining jars.
Arrange jars in large pot. Add boiling water to pot so that at least 1 inch of water covers tops of jars. Cover pot and boil rapidly 15 minutes. Remove jars from pot. Cool to room temperature. If lid stays down, jar is sealed. (If lid pops up, store butter in refrigerator.) Store in cool dry place up to 1 year. Refrigerate after opening.
YAY! Another canning recipe? love this one! what a nice twist on apple butter. about how many jars does this make/do you need?
Jessica, I doubled mine but then reduced it a little longer for a thicker consistency and ended up with almost 4 full jars.
Looks delish!!