Pears?? Tell me how to use them, so I will like them.

[big brown horse]

Mom used to can pears and use them to make a cake she called a "quick and easy"? It was winter treat here!

My fave pear tree only made 3 pears this year that I know of. One of my other trees has a bunch, but I have never tried them to know if thay are any good!

Hold up, don't you have the recipe? Sounds yummy!

Sorry about your small harvest. What do your other pears look like?

 

[Thewife]

Mom used to can pears and use them to make a cake she called a "quick and easy"? It was winter treat here!

My fave pear tree only made 3 pears this year that I know of. One of my other trees has a bunch, but I have never tried them to know if thay are any good!

Hold up, don't you have the recipe? Sounds yummy!

Sorry about your small harvest. What do your other pears look like?

I have moms recipe around here some where, just not sure where! Dad just pours a regular yellow cake mix on a bunch of pears and bakes!

Right now, my other pears just look like, skinny, unripe pears?

 

[BeccaOH]

We have an antique pear tree on the family farm that still produces. They are rather hard and tasteless for eating fresh and rather grainy for canning, so we make most of them into butter. We follow a regular apple butter recipe for the Crock-Pot. Sometimes we throw in a few apples with the pears. Turns out very yummy.

 

[big brown horse]

We have an antique pear tree on the family farm that still produces. They are rather hard and tasteless for eating fresh and rather grainy for canning, so we make most of them into butter. We follow a regular apple butter recipe for the Crock-Pot. Sometimes we throw in a few apples with the pears. Turns out very yummy.

Hi BeccaOH,

Do you have a specific recipe for the pear butter?

My folks back in TX have one of those pear trees. The pears were hard as rocks and grainy...you couldn't give them away! They mostly went to the horses. I am going to tell them about your recipe!

 

[sylvie]

Dried pears are addictive - pear candy! This year I'm thinking I'll use the peels and cores to make some PCV (Pear Cider Vinegar) and see if I like it.

Any special trick to drying the pears? What size pieces do you recommend for drying and is this done after thoroughly ripe?

Pear cider vinegar-brilliant!! I don't know why that hadn't occurred to me. Will try this, too, thanks.

 

[lorihadams]

We made pear preserves and had leftover syrup. We let the syrup boil down until it got thicker and more concentrated and then canned it. We use it instead of maple syrup on pancakes!

 

[Iceblink]

For dehydrating I slice two big sides, then two skinny sides, so the core is a square. The smaller peices will dry faster. Leave them slightly chewy and flexible. They aren't good overdried, which is easy to do. I have left them moist and never had a problem with mold.

I like fruit leather of almost any kind. Pear leather is good, better if mixed 1/2 and 1/2 with applesauce, and I add a little honey for flexibility, and sometimes cinnamon.

Lucky you with your free pears!

 

[ORChick]

Dried pears are addictive - pear candy! This year I'm thinking I'll use the peels and cores to make some PCV (Pear Cider Vinegar) and see if I like it.

Any special trick to drying the pears? What size pieces do you recommend for drying and is this done after thoroughly ripe?

Pear cider vinegar-brilliant!! I don't know why that hadn't occurred to me. Will try this, too, thanks.

I let the pears get nicely ripe, to where I like to eat them fresh. I peel them, though I don't suppose it is really necessary, and slice them thin - like apples for an apple tart, 1/4" thick or so. I soak them in acidulated water to retain color, and then dry. They should still be flexible when dried, but with no obvious pockets of moisture. They are delicious as is, but I also cut them up into smaller pieces and use them in baking, like raisins.

I plan to also dry some in bigger pieces, as suggested by Iceblink above, for one very particular recipe. I found it on a Swiss site last year, and it takes 300 grams, more than half a pound of dried pears! I used up a lot of the thin slices that I had dried for that one little tart - but it was delicious! I'll post the recipe if anyone wants it - its a fair bit of work for a small result, but I think it worth doing again.

I've never tried the vinegar before; I'm curious to see how it turns out.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

That pear pie sounds good, but I would add ginger too.

I also do not like pears, but would like to use the ones that grow on our trees.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

After reading the pear pie recipe a little closer, I notice it looks like it just has a bottom crust and is really more of a tart than a pie, right?