Lookit I got! Brother’s wife’s sister’s husband’s parents’ pears!
I am planning pear-lemon preserves, canned meatless mincemeat, and perhaps pear butter or pickled pears. Too much?
Not enough, I say. Bring on the paring knife, rustle up the Big Bowls, boil those jars, crack open the new box of rings, rosin up the cutting board . . . it’s Pear Time.
First: Pear-Apple Mincemeat (the meatless kind)
15 large pears, peeled and ground (about 7 pounds)
12 apples, peeled and chopped (about 4 1/2 pounds)
2 3/4 cups raisins
2 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 unpeeled orange, seeded and ground
1/2 cup vinegar (5 %) acidity)
1 T. salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Combine all ingredients in a large Dutch oven’ bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Spoon hot mixture into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Remove air bubbles, wipe jar rims. Cover at once with metal lids, and screw on bands. Process in boiling water bath 25 minutes. Yield: 8 pints.
To make Pear-Apple Mincemeat Pie:
Pastry for double-crust pie
4 1/2 cups Pear Apple Mincemeat
1/4 cup sugar
2 T. butter or margarine
Roll half of pastry to 1/8 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Place in a 9-inch pieplate: set aside.
Combine mincemeat and sugar in a heavy saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Spoon mincemeat mixture into prepared pastry shell; dot top of mincemeat with butter.
Roll remaining pastry to 1/8 inch thickness; transfer to top of pie. Trim off excess pastry along edges. Fold edges under and flute. Cut slits in top crust for steam to escape. Cover edges of pastry with strips of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes, removing foil last 15 minutes of baking. Yield: one 9-inch pie.
recipe from The Southern Living Cookbook
The Southern Living CookbookP.S. I put a scootch more head space in my jars than 1/4 in. I also let it simmer a bit more before canning than just bringing it to a boil. And, 4 1/2 cups mincemeat per pie? Do they think I’m going to open a whole ‘nother jar just to take out 1/2 cup? Please! Chop up a fresh apple if you have to, or just use 4 cups. Otherwise, this recipe has a very good mincemeat flavor. The orange is delicious and the spice blend is spot on.
Oh, and this recipe made almost 6 QUARTS for me, not the 8 pints it promised. Possibly because I weighed my pears after I pared them. The recipe didn’t specify. Taste-wise it turned out great, though, so I don’t know what to tell you. In this case, more is better as far as I’m concerned.
Oh that sounds good-now a question: is regular mincemeat with real meat? I should google it, I’ve always wondered.
Yes, actually–traditional mincemeat contains beef, and/or suet. Not a big fan of the beef in pie. But that’s just me.
Thanks for stopping by. We appreciate comments so much.
Sounds great. With the meat doesn’t sound appealing to me either, but without sounds good. Pear butter sounds like it would be good too!
YUM! Pear butter and pear relish are two of most favorite pear products. We do not have access to bushels of pears any longer, so canning them has become cost prohibitive. I keep telling myself…”someday…someday”.
We have an overactive pear tree and I make a similar all fruit mincemeat with apples and pears along with dried cherries and apricots. I also add a goodly snootful of brandy to sweeten the pot. I can’t wait to try your recipe for pear-lemon preserves, that sounds so tasty. Thank you for the recipes
Oooh, cherries and apricots and brandy. . . I will absolutely try that next time. Wonderful.
I had to do something with the last of the pears, asian pears, grapes not quite dehydrated enough, and some apples starting to soften, and found this recipe. I did some adapting of my own, and ended up just short of seven quarts. I think I’ll add some chopped nuts when I go to make a jarful into a pie.
Sadge–Ooo, that sounds like a great idea.
Hoping my son will like this instead of the meat version… Love to can!
I had 9 pints, I used granny smith and they were very large apples so… Absolutely delicious. Way more work than I anticipated, but at Christmas, I know I will be so glad I spend a Tuesday evening making this. Thank you for the recipe. And yes the spice is spot on.
How did you grind your pears.
I use a saladmaster (an old shredder type thing) or you could use a food processor or just chop finely.
This recipe sounds great! Quick question, did you process quarts longer than the 25 mins suggested for pints?
Christie–Only if you’re over 3000 feet, then add 5 minutes per additional thousand feet altitude.