Homemade Pear Butter: A Guide to Crafting Delightful Spreads
Make homemade pear butter & master the art of cooking from scratch! Our guide offers step-by-step instructions for perfect results every time
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 10 hours
- Total Time: 12 hours
- Yield: 4 pints 1x
- Category: canning recipe
- Method: slow cooker
Ingredients
Units
Scale
7 pounds ripe Bartlett Pears
4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
Instructions
- Start the process by washing the pears thoroughly. Remember, we consume this divine butter with the pear’s skin. The skin plays a key role in giving the butter its velvety texture and robust flavor, so scrub gently under cool water.
- Second, coring the pears. Cut your pear in half and use a melon-baller or a sturdy teaspoon to remove the seeds and hard section from the center. Please don’t fret over peeling or removing the stem and the base; they’ll soften during cooking and blend seamlessly later.
- Next, cut the pear halves into chunks. The size doesn’t matter significantly as they’ll be cooked down into a mush anyway. Smaller pieces will cook faster, but one-inch chunks usually do the trick.
- Place all of the ingredients into the slow cooker and place the lid back on it.
- Cook on low heat for 10 hours.
- Fill the cold pack canning pot with water, place the lid on it and bring the water to a rolling boil.
- Right before the pear butter is finished, prepare the canning jars, canning lids by sterilizing them in the hot boiling water in the canner. It is recommended to leave the jars in the boiling water for 8 minutes but just quickly dip the lids and bands into the hot water to sterilize them. I dip the newer lids that say you do not need to dip them as well for safety’s sake.
- When the pear butter is done, use an immersion blender to puree the pear mixture until it is smooth and silky.
- Ladle the hot pear butter into hot canning jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace.
- Remove air bubbles and add more hot pear butter if necessary.
- Wipe the rim of the jar to remove any food residue.
- Center the hot lid on the jar and screw the band down until resistance is met and then tighten it slightly more so it is fingertip tight.
- Place the jars in the canner making sure they are completely covered with water.
- Place the lid back on the canner and wait until you hear the water come back to a boil.
- Then process the jars for 10 minutes.
- Remove the canner lid, turn off the heat and wait 5 minutes.
- Then remove the jars and allow them to cool overnight.
- Remove the bands.
- Check the lids to make sure they are sealed.
- Gently wipe the jars.
- Label and date the jars so you know what is in them and when you canned them.
- Move the jars to a cool, dark place to store.
Equipment
Find it online: https://experimentalhomesteader.com/homemade-pear-butter/
