Canned pears and berry pie filling
I’ve done a bunch of canning this summer. I’ve canned jam, tomato sauce and soup, peaches, applesauce, and more. This was my first time canning pears. Compared to everything else, the pears were difficult. I bought a box of pears from the fruit market and then waited a week for them to turn the perfect shade of yellow. The pears were perfect. The problem was peeling them. Peeling the pears was a slow and tedious process and I had to have Derek step in to help me out with this part of the canning task. Everything else with the pears was a breeze, but the peeling, sheesh, what a pain. If there is a better way than manually peeling them, let me know.
Plain tomato juice for sauce
In the pear picture above, you could see a bunch of paste tomatoes on my counter. These are tomatoes from my garden that have ripened. The tomato harvest has been pretty sad this year, but I’m doing what I can with what I have. I used my Roma tomato strainer to strain the tomatoes into a juice that I am going to use for a sauce tomorrow night. There isn’t enough here to go to the effort of canning, but there definitely is enough for a nice dinner.
The giant carrot
Speaking of dinner, tonight I’m making split pea soup and am using this giant carrot as one of the ingredients. This baby is huge! I found this carrot at the fruit stand and was intrigued. It has a really nice flavor. Plus, it is huge!
Happy cooking!
Sandy
The 10 Year Challenge 
On the pears did you try blanching them in hot water? I know that works for tomatoes and other vegetables, maybe the pears are too soft for that to work thought.
Hi Jeff!
I don’t think that works for pears, just as I don’t think it would work well for apples. It does work great for peaches and tomatoes however. The canning book usually tells you when to use blanching to remove skins and there was no such instruction for pears.
Sandy
Did you use a paring knife (pun intended), or a vegetable peeler? I usually use a veggie peeler as it is quicker and leaves more of the fruit. Or maybe you could even try one of those rotating apple peelers with a hand crank? That may be too forceful for the flesh, but it’s worth a try. This reminded me of my sour cherries this summer: they were so small that once I pitted them (over two hours) I mostly had cherry skins left and only enough for one tart. We had one sour-cherry-skin tart from two cherry trees. The cost-benefit ratio is skewed in the wrong direction with that one.
No way to avoid the peeling – but I think pears are so worth the pain to peel – as they are my absolute favorite canned fruit. That sweet grainy texture is just perfect after they are canned in a light syrup. I use a good vegetable peeler to do the pear peeling and it works very well, but having another pair of hands for the process is also really good.
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Hey There,
I recently bought a Messermeister Serrated Swivel Peeler, from Sur La Table (online)
“Serrated edge is great for zesting citrus fruits or accenting fresh vegetables for presentation. Replaceable stainless-steel blade and easy-grip polypropylene handle. Dishwasher safe. 7″ long.”
It was only 2 bucks and a pretty blue color. The serrated edge is hardly noticeable when veggies and fruits are peeled. I do my cucumbers, apples, pears, potatoes, and other things with this peeler. It is soooooooo easy to use. It’s even got a little pokey thing on the top end that I use to divet out bad spots on apples or potatoes. Good luck. Love the photos.
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