Yesterday we picked up a case of pears at a rock bottom price. I knew right away we would be setting aside quite a few for eating fresh, but I also wanted to have a few jars of pears on hand for this winter as well. Canning pears is much easier than canning peaches. All you really need to do is wash your fruit, peel the skin off, core them and add a bit of sugar syrup and place them in the hot water canner. Pretty simple if you ask me.
Here is the recipe I used
PEARS — HALVED OR DICED
Quantity: An average of 17 1/2 pounds is needed per canner load of 7 quarts; an average of 11 pounds is needed per canner load of 9 pints. A bushel weighs 48 pounds and yields 16 to 24 quarts, which is an average of 2 1/2 pounds per quart.
Quality: Choose ripe, mature fruit of ideal quality for eating fresh or cooking.
Procedure: Rinse pears, cut in half, and core. Place pears in a large bowl filled with water and an ascorbic acid solution {I use Fruit Fresh}. Prepare and boil a very light, light, or medium syrup or pack peaches in water, apple juice, or white grape juice.
Sugar Syrup – 10 cups of water and 2 cups sugar { this is a light syrup, if you like your pears super sweet just add more sugar}. I bring it to a boil and let it simmer for 5 minutes before packing my jars with fruit, and then pouring the syrup over the pears.
Hot pack Method— In a large saucepan place drained fruit in syrup and bring to boil. Fill jars with hot fruit and cooking liquid, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Place halves in layers, cut side down.
Raw pack Method — Fill hot jars with raw fruit, cut side down, and add syrup, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. *This is what I do.
Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel. Adjust lids and process.
Go HERE for more Canning Recipes
If you are new to canning {or just looking for more recipes} I highly recommend the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. Amazon has it on sale right now for $13.38 and it’s filled with 400 recipes.
And if you are looking for a canner, I used the Granite Ware 11-1/2 Quart Covered Preserving Canner with Rack
This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.
Elizabeth F says
Pears are the first thing I canned all by myself, not with Grandma, Mother or anyone else. This was so long ago not sure I want to say. We were still sealing our jam and jelly with paraffin back then.
Helen in Meridian says
With your OCD, I am surprised all of your pears aren’t halved perfectly instead of multi sized chopped pieces in the jar. Also, looking at those pictures of the great veggie displays from the Puyallup Fair, did you notice how the use of black fabric basket liners or tablecloths made the vegetables just pop?
Mavis says
My Dearest Helen,
I started to halve my pears but then gave up and decided to chop them up because the Handsome Husband wanted me to make him breakfast. You’d think he’d know how to put an English muffin in the toaster or scramble an egg by now.
Elexis says
I bought the Granite Ware starter kit at Target on Sunday for 50% off!! So it was only $16.66!! I bought it mostly to have for next summer but really want to learn to can since I have never done it before.
Karen Coghlan says
First of all I must say that I have only dreamed about canning never actually have done any. But when I saw that pears in halves, I imagined trying to get those halves to fit into my jars. The halves are pretty but I think that a smaller cut would be easier to fit into the jars. And I would not have to worry about them looking a certain way, such as lining them up.
I have a case of pears waiting for them to ripen so I might get a chance to give canning pears a go..
thanks Karen
Karen Coghlan says
Also I spent the morning peeling and cutting tomatoes for freezing, I hope they work as I have planned.
Linda says
If you have an apple, peeler/corer you can take off the corer part and use it to peel pears too! I did that when I had a bushel to can and it sped up the work!
Sandy says
I just started the Master Food Preserver program through UC Davis. It is a 10 week program with a minimum of 20 hours volunteer work upon certificate. It’s a great program – I recommend it to all. Just google master food preserver.
JILL DOLAN says
Hi I have a really dumb ????
I need to know if I can just dice up pears
and place them in a freezer bag and freeze them
until I’m ready to use them. I really want to make
the carrot cake jam but didn’t get a chance to buy all
the ingredients can you please help me with this.
OneHundredDollarsAMonth.com says
I have in the past. I just soak them in some lemon water for a few minutes, then place pear slices on a cookie sheet, and flash freeze. Then, transfer to freezer bags.
Leah says
I noticed that the chart says how long to process for HOT style of pack, but you do a cold pack. How long do I process for a COLD style of pack and will that kill any bacteria so I don’t have to worry about illness when we use them? Thank you.
Mavis says
Cold pack and hot pack processing times are the same! And yep, it will kill off all the germies!
Amanda says
Have you noticed any difference in texture between cold-packed pears and hot-packed pears? Thanks!
Mavis says
I really haven’t at all. The flavor is still great in both.
Amanda says
Thank you! I’ve got about 60 lbs of pears to can over the next few days and cold-packing should save me quite a bit of time!