Tri Pear Ginger Preserves

I am not a fan off late fall foods. Most of what is seasonal right now are roots (beets, carrots, potatoes), squash, apples, pears and some citrus fruits. Boring! Lately, nothing in the produce section at the grocery store has been inspiring enough for me to cook with! I do not want asparagus from Texas or green beans from North Carolina - that won't do! I want what is local, and what is local right now, is very little variety. Maybe I just like to find reasons to complain, but I am certainly looking forward to spring for the sole reason that I will have bountiful produce to pick through again.

This morning I decided to do some more canning. I have been putting pear preserves on hold since early September, and today was the day to take care of it. Pears are in season (obviously) and the grocery store stocks five or six varieties, all grown in Washington and Oregon, which definitely helps fix my dire need to cook with local ingredients.

Pear and ginger seems to be a trendy combination these days, and I had no problem finding a recipe for just that. The recipe comes from a website entirely dedicated to canning, FreshPreserving. Here I found many recipes for canning everything from berries to pickles or salmon. This is a simple recipe with a fairly low sugar content and a few nice, fresh, ingredients. I made a couple of additions/changes which I will reflect below. I shall bold instructions that have to do with canning. However, this recipe does not need to be canned...it can be cooked, cooled and stored in an airtight container for a few weeks.

Tri Pear Ginger Preserves
Ingredients:
2 Comice pears, peeled, cored, diced to 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces
3 Red Bartlet pears, peeled, cored, diced to 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces
3 Anjou pears, peels, cored, diced to 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces
3 limes, zested and juiced
2 1/3 cup organic, raw cane sugar
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger root
1 vanilla bean, sliced lengthwise

Instructions:
Begin by setting up a canning station, this recipe makes enough to fill 5 -1/2 pint jars. Place the jars, lids and rings into a large pot of boiling water and boil for at least 15 minutes. Turn down the heat after 15 minutes to a low simmer. In the mean time, make the preserves by adding all of the ingredients to a large pot on medium high heat. Stir to incorporate. Allow the mixture to come to a boil, stirring often, until the mixture thickens and begins to change to a honey color...this could take 15 minutes to 25 minutes. Using canning tongs, remove the jars from the hot water, emptying the water out, and place them onto a clean towel on the counter near the stove. Leave the lids and rings in the water for now. Ladle the pear preserves into the hot jars, filling to about and 1/8 inch from the rim. One by one, remove the lids from the hot water (with tongs or a magnet wand) and set them atop the filled jars. Remove the rings from the hot water and screw them onto the jars, just finger tight. Tip the jars onto the lid end and allow to rest for about 10 minutes. Turn the jars upright and store in a cool dark location. After 24 hours check the jars to see that the lids have popped in. If the lids have not popped in, store these preserves in the refrigerator and use within 3 weeks.

Note the honey golden color of the pears just before I started canning them:


Notes:
I used three different types of pears for this recipe because I couldn't decide on one type of the five I had to choose from. One type of pear can be used, of course, if you can decide which one kind you like best! :-) I added the vanilla bean to warm up the flavor. As usual, all organic ingredients were used. There is a possibility that by using raw cane sugar, the preserves will not be as thick as commercially sold preserves, and I am okay with that! One can use regular kitchen tools rather than a canning kit to do all of the above tasks. To retrieve the jars from the hot water without "canning tongs", wrap rubber bands around the ends of kitchen tongs for a better grip. These kitchen tongs may also be used to fish out the lids and rings, rather than using a magnet wand. If the lids make a popping sound when pushed in with a finger (after 24 hours), that means they are not sealed or preserved properly...it happens. There is information all over the internet on canning techniques, just in case the information I have provided is not sufficient...it might not be.



Since I didn't mash the pears much in these preserves, there a pretty big pieces preserved. I like them! I had some on a piece of toast with butter and honey. So good! The ginger flavor definitely becomes more prominent when the preserves chill. I can just taste the warmth from the vanilla bean and I appreciate that. The honey is a little odd on top, so I won't be doing that anymore, but overall, these preserves are quite tasty. I am pretty sure I could eat them straight from the jar and be perfectly satisfied!