How I spent my weekend…..preserving pears! We have two pear trees which produce a HUGE amount of fruit. This weekend I could not delay it any longer, it was finally time to do something with all the pears.

About two weeks ago Josh picked a wheelbarrow full of pears. We are still mastering the art of these pears. When you pick them they are still very firm, as in nearly rock hard. The boys love to eat them this way. On the weekends when they play outside all day they can easily eat five a day, EACH! That means 15 pears a day!

Yet somehow I still had so many left to preserve. I did some research and discovered that you are supposed to put them at about freezing for one day and then let ripen at room temp for 5-7 days. We tried the freezer, too cold. So the fridge it was. After a day of chilling I put them in a laundry basket and let them ripen in the bonus room, locked so the boys would stay away! I did this in three batches since obviously they wouldn’t all fit in the fridge at once.

The mad house began yesterday morning. I sterilized jars and lids. I peeled and sliced pears. First I made a batch of pear sauce. The boys could eat this forever. They like it plain, in yogurt or better yet warmed and over vanilla ice cream. Anyway, it was a bit disappointing to get only 3 quarts for all my effort and a burn on my wrist!

The next batch would have to wait. I still hadn’t had a shower, I needed to fix lunch and the boys would need a bath. They played outside all morning which means they were covered in dirt. I had a birthday party to take them to right after lunch!

After the party it was back to work. I made another batch of pear sauce and got another 3 plus quarts. I also sterilized more jars and lids for the next day. Jack enjoyed his pear sauce for his dessert, he had several servings.

This morning it was another busy day. This time I preserved sliced pears. At least I got more for my work, but still, it seems like so much work for not enough results. I will never understand people who enjoy preserving! I only do it because I must. Small batch jams and such are another story, I don’t mind that. This weekend’s work resulted in 10 quarts of sliced pears and 6 quarts of pear sauce.

The day is done and I still have another basket of pears. I plan to bake with some, but that still leaves quite a few….plus there are still some on the trees…..