Belgian Pears

My first attempt at ¨canning¨.

The Cottage Smallholder is a blog I enjoy. She has some significant health problems which have resulted in trying to set up a smallholding living in a cottage in England. Some terrific recipes - who knew there was actually a fruit called a ¨Sloe¨ and people make gin with it?

Belgian Pears recipe

Ingredients:

* 2 kilos of pears
* 500g of white granulated sugar
* 150 ml of white wine vinegar

Method:

1. Wash and peel the pears. Leaving the stalk on.
2. Melt the sugar in the vinegar and any pear juice in a large heavy bottomed saucepan.
3. Add the pears and simmer gently with a lid tight fitting lid for three hours.
4. Remove the lid and simmer for a further three hours with the lid off.
5. Pot into sterilised jars and seal in a Bain Marie.
6. Test the seals when cold before labelling and storing.
7. N.B. You need 2 kilos of pears. 1 kilo doesn’t make enough juice if you are going to bottle them.


I used 2 kilos of small greenish pears and barely had enough juice to cover for both jars - but they are really delicious. They will keep up to a year - if they last that long.