11/12/2005

Pear Butter

While poking around in my cupboard for raisins to add to my mince pie filling I discovered a bag of dried pears that were beginning to look a bit over-dry. Of course, being a frugal person, I could not discard them, and decided to make Pear Butter instead. It is amazing what can be done with a little ingenuity and a microwave! I chopped the dried pears up into fairly small pieces, and placed them in a microwave safe cooker with just enough water to cover. After cooking them on high for fifteen minutes, I tested them and concluded that another few minutes was required. It took a total of about twenty minutes to produce
the soft texture that I wanted. Then I used a hand blender to puree the fruit in the container. The result was a thick, tasty, not to sweet butter that was calling out for something to spark the flavor, so I used ground ginger, to taste. That was the perfect way to enhance the flavor of the butter, and I now had quite a batch to put aside for gifts as well as for use in my own kitchen. I brought the mixture to a boil, and scooped it into sterilized 8 ounce jelly jars, sealed them up tightly, and turned them upside down on a kitchen towel to cool. They sealed up quite nicely, and will keep well in my refrigerator until I give them away or use them myself. If I had intended to keep them on the shelf i would have gone through the more time consuming method of canning them on the stove.

So the mince pie filling is in the freezer, and the Queen Anne's Lace Jelly and Pear butter are put by. Oops----- forgot: in the freezer I have banana bread and pumpkin bread ready for the onslaught at Thanksgiving. Now, if I can locate the recipe I will tell you how to make the most unusual cranberry relish that you have ever tasted. I call it Jans Cranberry Stuff, because the recipe was read ro me over the phone by my son-in -law Jan. It is delicious, and goes well with turkey, as well as just about everything else you might be tempted to try it with. {including tofu} Talk to you soon. {have you ordered your turkey?}

Auntie Lorraine

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