pear butter

This was our first summer in Boston in our cute house in Watertown. After hibernating through the winter, we were prepared to have a busy summer.

As the days passed by from spring into summer, and the trees started to bloom, the city became a little bit more enjoyable. We started to notice that our one and only tree in our small backyard was growing in full. And by the middle of the summer, we began to see pears starting to grow on the tree.

I have never owned a fruit tree, but as you know, I am an avid pinterester. So this excited me.

After thinking about it, I don’t think I have ever gone to the store to pick up pears either. I think the last time that I ate them was as a kid, and it was probably out of a can, in a mix of sugar water.

So, I typed into google “how to know when pears are ripe”. This search also helped me to decide when/how to pick them.

The secret: you want to slightly bend the fruit to one side to see if it breaks from the limb. If not, it’s not ready. So I was able to pick about 12 pears. After allowing them to “ripen” a little more over the course of a few days, I decided it was time to try a new recipe.

The most intriguing and fairly simple recipe that came to mind was pear butter. This reminded me of the apple butter they serve at Cracker Barrel with fresh, hot biscuits. Yum.

Ingredients

• 3 lbs. ripe pears, peeled, cored, diced (I used about 12 small pears)
• 3 tbsp. honey
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1-2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice seasoning*
• ¼ tsp. salt

*(The recipe called for: 1 tsp. cinnamon, ½ tsp. ground ginger, Pinch of nutmeg, Pinch of ground cloves – but the spice seasoning had all of this in there)

Directions

Stir all ingredients together in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for about 50 minutes, covering so that the lid is slightly open, and stirring occasionally. Keep an eye on the mixture so that the bottom does not burn. Once it has reduced and thickened, remove from heat and transfer to a food processor. Pulse until smooth. (Or you can skip this step and keep the pear butter chunky.)

Transfer to canning jars or a heat-proof container, seal, and refrigerate until ready to use. Keep for up to a week.

*If your pear butter is too thin, feel free to run the mixture through a strainer to remove extra liquid. Alternately, let the mixture simmer on the stove longer to reduce more.

After allowing the pear butter to refrigerate overnight, the next morning I added some to toast. Delicious!

Hope you enjoy!