Pear Honey Adventures

It's finally autumn -- football, colored leaves, pumpkins, and canning. Canning, as in sealing up our fresh harvests and putting them away for winter. This summer my other half stocked us up on blueberries, which went right into storage bags in the freezer. There's not a whole lot of room in there for other goodies.

I have to thank my friend, Carissa, for telling me about the sweet, syrupy and jam-like concoction one gets from simmering sugar, pears and pineapple together. It sounded pretty unique, and best of all, pear honey can be canned and stored for future use.

Canning is something I've never tried on my own. Years ago I canned fresh apple pie filling with a friend, but I never had the guts to start boiling glass jars and fruit and vegetables on my own. This past week, I decided to give it a go.

As you can see from the above photo, I managed to put up several jars of golden goodness in this delicious recipe. To date, I've only had it with french toast, but it tasted marvelous. I also understand it goes well on ice cream, waffles and the like. Chilled in the fridge, my container became quite jellied, so I think it would work on peanut butter sandwich, too. 

Below is the recipe for pear honey. Time is precious, and this project didn't take up too much of it; only about two hours from start to finish. So if you'd like to try something new in your busy life, give this idea a go.

‎Pear Honey

4 lbs of pears, peeled and chopped

1 large can of crushed pineapple

5 lbs of sugar

Bring to a slow boil on medium heat and then stir until syrupy at least twenty minutes. The pears will mostly dissolve with the exception of a few chunks, and the rest will be dark like honey. Can and process according to your canner's instructions. For the Georgia area, it was ten minutes in a water bath. Once canned, it's a beautiful golden yellow.

Good Luck!

~Danielle Thorne

This month is National Ovarian Cancer Awareness month. Be on the lookout for the teal ribbon or display one of your own!