"There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat." Ralph Waldo Emerson
We have two pear trees in our yard and harvesting and processing pears is a new experience for us. We're learning about them as we go along. We have learned that pears (European, that is, not Asian) should not ripen on the tree. They ripen from the inside out and by the time they start to give a little on the outside, they might be bad in the middle. So knowing when to pick, how much to let them ripen on the counter, all the while watching for growing bad spots is still somewhat baffling to us. However, as luck would have it, we have a good crop this year to experiment with. Below are some of our endeavors.
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| The trees have been limbed up over the years for easy mowing under them, so there are very few pears we can pick standing on ground. We've been using ladders and an apple picker, but there are still many we can't reach. |
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| We have been picking from the tree or from the ground every couple of days and then bring the pears inside to ripen some more. |
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| We have been cooking some to make pearsauce. |
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| Some of which we've shared, some we have eaten, some we have frozen... |
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| and some of the sauce we have made into pearbutter. I did this in the crock pot which was much easier than the long hours of stirring over a stove when I was younger. |
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| Some of the pears were dehydrated into sweet snacks. |
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| and some were baked into a pie |
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| And a pear-blueberry crisp. |
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| We aren't the only ones enjoying the pears. The bees, flies, deer and squirrel are feasting daily on them. |
Tomorrow, I think I'll make another batch of pearsauce. That seems to be the favorite so far.
I'm coming over for food! Pears are so yummy. My husband sometimes adds pears to his applesauce but we don't typically have enough to use for anything other than eating fresh.
ReplyDeleteAs I have been offering pears to friends, I have found out that some don't like the graininess of pears. I will say that while everything we've made has been very good, there have been a few grains in all of the finished product. Luckily, that doesn't bother anyone in my family.
DeleteI have processed a lot of apples in my life, so except for the ripening thing, I've been treating the pears the same way I would apples.
That is one heck of a harvest! I would love to have enough to make pear preserves and pear butter!
ReplyDeleteI finished processing what we have picked so far by making pearsauce this morning. Not sure yet, if I will make some more pearbutter from this batch. If the rain slows down, we will pick more pears today. All the the cherries molded before we got to them this year, so we're trying not to let that happen to the pears.
DeleteHow wonderful to have so many pears fresh from your trees! Loved the photo of the bees feasting on all that delicious pear nectar. I wish I lived closer to you; I'd trade a jar of my peach jam for some pears! :)
ReplyDeleteI would take your trade, but even more it would be great if I could trade for some of your citrus. :)
DeleteI bet the bees get drunk on those rotting pears. The pear pie looks so good!
ReplyDeleteThere are definitely some fermenting pears as evidenced by the smell around the trees. The pie was very good--much like an apple.
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