It’s that time of year. 
4 ancient pear trees in the garden give me a glut of fruit all at the same time and as they don’t seem to store well, I’ve had to be creative with things to do with pears in a short period of time.
Each of the trees gives me a different kind of pear and I haven’t looked into what they’re called as yet (feel free to comment below if you know!). The mini yellow pears are really sweet and lovely to eat just as they are but they’re already quite soft – there’s no crunch, whereas the larger fruit from a different tree are really crispy and juicy.
So here’s my 2017, what to do with pears, recipe number 1
Spiced Pear Jam
Ingredients
2kg peeled, cored and chopped pears. I used only the large crisp and juicy pears.
Juice of 2 lemons
500g white sugar
500g light brown sugar
50g dark brown sugar
Seeds of 1 vanilla pod
A large pinch of nutmeg
1 heaped teaspoon cinnamon
Method
Heat pears & lemon juice slowly in a large saucepan, stirring from time to time until they are soft. Depending on the consistency of the jam you want, either mash or liquidise the pears at this stage. I decided to go for a smooth jam, so I liquidised the lot and then returned it to the pan.
Add sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla pod seeds and stir on low heat until all the sugar has disolved. Then boil rapidly for 20-40 minutes to reduce the liquid.
Make sure you have enough jars ready, this makes just over 2 litres of jam. I used 6 x 360ml jam jars. Heat the jars (without the lids!) in the oven at 100C. Have waxed paper and the lids ready.
Spoon a little of the jam onto a cold saucer to check for setting. It’s ready when a sort of skin appears to form on the top and the jam holds it shape when you tip the saucer up.
Pour into the heated jars, cover with a waxed disc and put the lid on.
Enjoy!
Next Pear recipe coming tomorrow
