Spiced Pear Butter

I used the lovely pears I received earlier this month to make some delicious pear butter. I had never had pear butter before but after trying this recipe I'm hooked. I think I may even like this better than my beloved apple butter!

Spiced Pear Butter

(makes approximately 44 oz)

Ingredients:

13 pounds pears (approximately 10 cups pear sauce)

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 cup honey

1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice 

1 teaspoon orange zest

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cloves

Directions:

To begin; thoroughly wash your pears, remove the stems and quarter them. Place pears and lemon juice in a large pan (preferably with a heavy bottom), cover, and place over medium heat. Cook until the fruit is tender, mashing easily with a fork. Stir frequently to ensure even cooking. Remove from heat and allow to cool. 

Using a sieve and wooden spoon, begin removing the skins and seeds from the pears. To do this rest the sieve over top a large bowl and place the fruit into the sieve a spoonful at a time. Use the wooden spoon to push the fruit through until only the skins and seeds remain. Discard them and repeat until all the fruit is processed. You should end up with about 10 cups of pear sauce. (You can significantly cut down the time this process takes if you have a food mill. I will be purchasing one before doing this again!)

Next, using blender/food processor/emersion blender, puree your pear sauce. Depending on your taste you can make it smooth by pureeing all the sauce or leave it slightly chunky by only pureeing half. Taste the sauce to check for sweetness. Depending on the natural sweetness of the fruit you may want to skip adding the sugar or increase it to achieve your desired sweetness.

Place the sauce and remaining ingredients into a crockpot and cook on high with the lid vented. (Depending on the type of crockpot you have to can do this by turning the lid so it rests with openings on each side (oval) or by placing butter knives under the edges to hold the lid slightly open (round/hinged).) Cook, stirring occasionally, until it thickens enough to stick to a spoon turned upside down. (It should be reduced by about half.)

If you plan to can the sauce you can do so using a water bath method like this and you will want to do this while your sauce is hot. If you plan on storing it in the fridge then allow it to cool, place it in an air tight container and place in the fridge. 

We have been eating our pear sauce on bread and biscuits until I saw the idea to use it as an ice cream topping. This is amazing! The spicy fruit flavors overtop creamy vanilla ice cream is the prefect summertime combination.