Canning question

[ladysaotome]

My sister and I made some Pear Honey a few weeks ago. It was our first attempt ever into the world of canning & we ended up with a dozen 1/2 pint jars & several full pints.  We made them out of a bunch of pears that we'd left on the dining room table to ripen for a few days and they ripened pretty quickly as when we checked on them they were pretty

Comments

[sapphorlando]

According to my Ball Blue Book (1999; p. 21): "Pears should be harvested when full grown and stored in a cool place (60-65 F) until ripe but not soft. Bartlett pears are considered best for canning. Keiffer pears and similar varieties are satisfactory if properly ripened and cooked in water until almost tender. Pack in sugar syrup, juice or water."

Elsewhere (p. 16), it says: "Do not use overly-ripe or diseased fruit."

A similar recipe at their site says to use "ripe but firm pears

[ladysaotome]

Thanks - your post exactly matches my mixed feelings. I think I will email them - couldn't hurt!

[marypaintscars]

That's interesting, I'd never heard or read that! We canned a ton of pears a couple years ago, just sliced and canned in apple juice, and had no problems, and we made some pear jam. Maybe we were just lucky though.

[ladysaotome]

And only one or two sites even caution against it, so who knows? *shrug*

[amerrydeath]

I personally wouldn't worry about it but then I wouldn't give them away, just use them myself. I've spent the summer making jam and the one thing I've learned to do is never use fruit that's the tiniest bit overripe--it doesn't taste good or make for a a well-set jam! I just eat it. Or bake it into something. Pear-honey-spice bread/cakes would be delicious and would be something you could give away?

Have they been packed in honey only? I would worry less if they were in honey as it has antibacterial properties but that would be my instinct and is not backed up by any personal scientific research :)

[ladysaotome]

They aren't packed in honey - the pears are mixed with sugar, a little cinnamon/nutmeg, and cooked down into a honey-like consistency - there's tiny chunks left so it's kinda like a pear syrup?

Baking it into something sounds yummy, though!

[simsabalim]

I would think that pressure canning would make them safe.

If you're worried about canning and have the room, you could freeze them.

[ladysaotome]

Hmm, we didn't pressure can - the recipe (and what I've read online) had us do the boiling-water bath...

I would freeze them but that would make giving them as gifts difficult - I wanted to mail them to family.

[ladysaotome]

Would that work? On precooked or post-canned? Hmm, I'll have to look into that!