Pear Honey

Pears will be arriving soon

Oriental Pear

I am growing the blight resistant and self pollinating Oriental Pear, Pyrus calleryana 'Oriental as seen in the photographs. It is a variety recommended for Texas. Texas A and M link for pears.

Pears - Memory Archeology - Pear Honey
This is a conversation I had with my Aunt.
You might have experienced similar conversations in your family.
Step 1) Remember Grandma and Grandpa's Pear Honey?

Step 2) I made some pear honey today and it came out fine. I had a big smile on my face towards the end of the cooking stage because it smelled so good. I followed the recipe with pineapple in it except I omitted the pineapple and added 1 t. of vanilla extract and 1 t. of coconut extract. It tastes just like mom's but has pieces of fruit still visible. I believe that if I had mashed the warm fruit through one of the food sieves we use to make tomato juice that it would look more like mom's did. Does that make sense. Anyway thanks for the recipe and thank you for bringing back some memories.

P.S. I cut the sugar down to 5 cups. In the Sure-Jell package there is a recipe for pear jelly that mom might have used.

Pyrus calleryana Pear 'Oriental

Step 3) That is wonderful! Nice comfort food. Nice memories. Did you use fresh pears? Bartlett? Do any of the kids remember the pear honey? I think Grandpa put it in jars with wax on top. Mom said you all just had it on toast. Sounds heavenly. She may have used a ricer? I will check out the Sure-Jell site and see if they post the pear jelly recipe. She may have tried several recipes over the years and found the coconut recipe the one they liked the best. What do you think?

Step 4)  Maybe using a ricer to make it more like a jelly. We had it on toast and we thought it tasted like Grandma's. I did put paraffin on top too. I used Bartlett pears that I had ripened to yellow.

Step 5) Mom thought they might have put it through the meat grinder prior to cooking. She wondered what everyone thought?

Step 6) I don't know, but I will try the ricer on the next batch.

Step 7) Add it to cream cheese................ umm.

Kerr had pear honey recipes in their 1946 cookbook.

PEAR HONEY

3 pounds ripe pears (9 cups) 

1 cup crushed pineapple
Grated rind and juice of  1 fresh lime

5 cups sugar

WASH, pare and core the pears; slice before measuring. Put through a food chopper using the fine blade. Combine pears and pineapple. Add the lime rind and juice. Add sugar and cook over slow heat, stirring frequently. Cook for 20 minutes. Pour into sterilized Kerr jars to within 1/4 inch of top. Put on cap, screw band firmly tight. Process in Boiling Water Bath 10 minutes. Yield: 8 eight oz. jars.

PEAR HONEY PRESERVES

4 cups pears (peeled, chopped) 

3 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt 

1 lemon (ground)

COMBINE all ingredients and cook in kettle, stirring occasionally about 15 minutes or until of spreading consistency. Pour into sterilized Kerr half-pint jars to within 1/2 inch of top. Screw band down firmly tight and process in Boiling Water Bath 10 minutes. Yield: 5 eight oz. jars.

 

 

 

 

 

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