Pear Sauce 101

Hello again - today we are going to make organic pear sauce. First... you need some organic pears. Luckily we have a pear tree in our backyard that is as organic as they come... except maybe for some bird poopies. These are the pears we gathered today - some from the ground and some from the tree.

Next, you need a bowl of water - to put the cut pears in after you've peeled and cored them - it helps wash them and keeps them from going too brown.

A sharp knife is beary important.

Righto - so our first pear is a beauty - snow-white flesh and not a worm or bruise to be seen.

The next pear is not so good - there are some worms in the middle - but we just cut around those... That's what makes them organic!

This one has worms and a bad bruise on one side - but again... we just cut those bits out.

Before you know it - we have a big bowl of cut pears...

And an equally big bowl of peels and icky bits.

We put some pears in the big stock pot with a bit of water - maybe 1/2 inch on the bottom... and turn it on high... there are a few more pears to cut but these can get going...

Uh-huh... and when you turn your back on your cutting board, you find it usurped by the toaster! Apparently someone is making lunch...

...if there was a Jerry in the house, I would definitely suspect him!

What's for lunch? Ahhh... tuna melt sandwiches...

Mmmm... with mozza and tomatoes... yummm... while those are baking, I'll finish the pears...

Oh dear - this one is in bad shape.

Sometimes the nicest looking pears have the worst insides... and the icky looking ones are actually OK on the inside.

Alright... big pile of compost...

And big pile of pears...

Once it boils, you turn it down to simmer...

Add a bit of cinnamon... three or four generous shakes...

Put the lid on and walk away and let it simmer happily - you can stir it every once in a while...

When it's done - after a few hours - and the pears have softened up, you take a potato masher and mash them up - this makes for a slightly lumpy pear sauce, but we like it that way. You could run it through the food processor too.

Then it goes into zip-loc bags and into the freezer... with some kept out in jars in the fridge. It is excellent in plain, unsweetened yogurt! Yum!

P.S. - Last year we did the same thing - but I just noticed that we used lemon juice and a splash of vanilla extract as well. We didn't add those this year - and the pear sauce looks a bit pink instead of yellow - oh well. It tastes yummy!

Pear Sauce

We have a pear tree in the backyard, along with the plums and the grapes. I've been anxiously waiting for the pears to ripen but... although many of them have been falling on the ground, they are all rock hard. Hmmm... I've seen the birds eating them so I took a nibble out of one of them... not good! This little bear got a tummy ache!

Mama did a bit of research and it turns out pears won't ripen on the tree, even though they are ready to pick... you need to pick them and put them in a cool spot for a while so that they can reach pear perfection.

But there are so many of them... and I wouldn't be able to eat that many ripe pears anyhow... there must be another solution.

Look at them all! I know people make apple sauce... so why not pear sauce?? Mama looked for a recipe online and... there are tonnes! Before she was even done looking, I was outside picking pears! Little bears are good at climbing trees you know...

There we go... that should do it... That's my pumpkin in the background that I'm supposed to be carving for Jerry & Ben's Halloween contest but... I am waiting for Mama to buy me a pumpkin carving kit (with the tiny thin saw/knife!).

First, you have to prepare the pears... which means peeling them, cutting out the oogie parts (where worms have made a home - these are organic pears you know!) and then cutting them into pieces. This is the hardest part of the job and the most dangerous, so Mama does that...

Then you put them in a big pot... 

And add a bit of water, some lemon juice, cinnamon and a titch of vanilla extract...

Get it to a boil and then turn it down so it burbles away, giving it the occasional stir.

And then you get out the potato smasher and... What? No potato smasher yet?

Oh... apparently it has to burble away for 40 minutes or so (depending on how hard the pears are)...

It's burbling away...

Now I can use the potato smasher!

There we go... you could run it through the blender or the food processor to get all the lumps out but I like lumpy apple... pear sauce so... we'll leave it like that! We are putting it into ziploc bags and storing it in the freezer... It makes a great addition to yogurt! And even though it has no added sugar, it tastes awesome and smells amazing!

There you go... Sandy's Pear Sauce... a good honey substitute for little bears!