Pear Butter

 We have a really big pear tree in front of our house that gives us lots of pears every year.  These pears are not really good for canning, they are more grainy and tend to fall apart if you try to can them, but they make really good juice.  We use our steam juicer and then we are left with this pear pulp.  Last year we decided to put that pulp to good use, we made pear butter.  When I say "we"  I actually mean my husband.  I may have given him the idea, but he did all the work.  Well, this year he's been gone a lot so I decided to try my hand at it.  I picked a bunch of pears with my sister-in-law and then juiced them.  That was pretty easy.  Then, I looked for a pear butter recipe.  That got a little confusing for me.  There are so many recipes out there and some I had the ingredients for and some I didn't.  So, I made up my own.  I didn't have any clove, so I used some pumpkin pie spice.  Most recipes called for pear sauce, similar to apple sauce.  Well, I blended up the pear that was left in the juicer and it ended up being thicker than pear sauce, so it cuts down a lot on the cooking time.  Also, a lot of recipes called for quite a bit of sugar, since my pears are really sweet, I cut down on that, too.  Oh, and when I juiced the pears, I cored them, but I left the peel on.  When I pureed them, I did it peel and all.

Pear Butter

13 cups of pear puree
1 cup sugar
2 TBSP cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Juice from 1 lemon

Combine all ingredients in a large pot.  Heat through.  If butter is too thick, add some pear juice.  If it's too runny, then just cook on low to reduce.  Be careful, as it cooks it will probably splatter.  You can either partially cover with a lid to let steam escape, or stir constantly to keep air bubbles from building up.  Since it's already pretty thick it doesn't take long to reduce.  Once you get it to the consistency you want, ladle it into hot jars leaving 1/2 inch head space.  Process in a water bath for about 25 minutes for pints.

Verdict:  Just so you know, this recipe has not been tested for canning, but I adapted it from recipes of others who have used and tested them for years.  Follow at your own discretion.  If in doubt, you can freeze the pear butter, or store in your fridge for up to 2 weeks.  This is really good.  It still seemed pretty sweet to me, but I think it's just because my pears are sweet like candy.  It's really good to use with peanut butter on sandwiches, or my favorite, on some toast with butter.