All from the same tree

10/1/2017 – Using sand pears picked from the tree in the garden at the farm, Mary made preserves inspired by the blog post and advice here at the BlindPigAndTheAcorn web site. See the post about picking them here at SundownFarms.com.

The directions at the BlindPig site plus what she added are as follows.

1. Pears were peeled, cored and soft places discarded. Then sliced, white sugar was shaken on and stirred with her hands. The bowl was covered and put into the refrigerator for two days, i.e. until Tuesday. We did not use as much sugar as the recipe called for.
2. Went through the pears and sliced some of them thinner and cut some of them in half. We had already made a crisp from some of them and found that we should have sliced them thinner.
3. They had not made much liquid so added water to barely cover them and simmered for about an hour or until the juices started to thicken. This took a while because these pears were not very ripe.
4. At about half way I decided to add 2 tsps. of ground ginger along with the zest of 1 medium lemon and the juice from that lemon. Just thought it would be a good idea.
5. All this time I had a pot of water boiling to submerge my ball jars and lids when it was just about time to fill them.
6. Broke some longer pieces of cinnamon sticks in half and placed 2 pieces each in the bottom of the hot jars.
7. Filled each hot jar with the hot pears and covered with the liquid.
8. Immediately placed the hot lids on each jar and let them cool.
9. Just happened to have a few that would not fit into the jars.  They are absolutely delicious.