Home Canning Pears with Recipe and Tips

For the past few months I’ve been spending a lot of time in my kitchen working on preserving food for the winter season. We grow a lot of our own vegetables and fruits. I also buy a lot of our fresh produce from local farmers and Farmer’s Markets. I’ve been home canning for almost 30 years and really enjoy it.

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Back in October I was able to purchase a half bushel of Bartlett pears from a local Farmer’s Market for a really great price. I made homemade pear sauce, pear jam and I canned a lot of them in a light syrup for use later on. The particular recipe that I like to use is from the Ball Blue Book and it will make eight pint-size jars or four quart-size jars.

If you enjoy home canning you’ll want to check out all of our easy-to-make canning recipes right here on the TwoClassyChics blog.

Pears in Light Syrup Recipe

8 to 12 lbs. Bartlett Pears (ripe, firm, peeled, cored, halved or quartered)
1 batch of light syrup

Light Syrup: 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar 5 1/4 cups of water)

Prepare your water bath canner, jars, lids, and canning supplies. I like to use a ladle, slotted spoon, clean cotton kitchen towels, my apron, a jar lifter, magnetic seal grabber, wide mouth funnel, etc.

In a large pan, over medium-low heat, warm up the pears, one layer at a time, in syrup until heated through, about 5 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, pack hot pears in overlapping layers into hot jars, leaving 1″ of space at the top. Ladle hot syrup into jar to cover the pears, leaving 1/2″ headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rip, place the seal on top along with the ring, adjusting it until its fingertip tight.

Place jars one-by-one as they’re filled into your water bath canner. Lower the rack into the simmering hot water, making sure that the jars are covered by at least 1″ of water over-the-top. Cover. Turn up the heat to medium-high and bring the water to a rolling boil. Process pint jars for 20 minutes, quart jars for 25 minutes. Turn off heat, remove canner lid. Wait an additional 5 minutes and then remove the jars from the canner. I place them on a clean towel covering my counter-top. Let them cool to room temperature. Once cool, label your jars and store them in a cool, dry place.

Tips: Lay out all of your home canning supplies before you begin the recipe. You’ll need your water bath canner, glass mason jars, seals & rings, and your basic canning accessories. To go along with them an apron, clean kitchen towels, a timer, sharp paring knife, cutting board, bowls, etc.

A lot of people will cut their pears in halves, I like to cut our’s into quarters. Since its just the two of us (we’re empty nesters), I like to process them in pint-size mason jars. A larger family would use quart-size jars. You can use different type’s of pears, but I personally prefer Bartlett’s. They’re sweet, juicy and hold their shape nicely when being processed.

Canning fruit can be a messy and sticky job! You’ll want to clean up everything as soon as you’re done. Toss items into the dishwasher or hand wash in hot, soapy water to get rid of all of the sticky residue. Don’t let the dirty items sit around for hours on end. Trust me, clean-up as soon as you can!

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