Canning Pears

Today I canned pears, and Mom helped me.   She always enjoys canning fruit, and it reminds her of times past when she did this for her own family as we were growing up.  Pears are putzy to work with, and slippery.  But opening a jar of home-canned pears on a cold winter's day is wonderful!  Pears are "nature's candy".  While Harold was taking chemo and treatments and nothing would taste good to him, pears always tasted true-to-taste.   So I make sure to can up plenty!  This year I am doing 7 boxes of pears, which should give me about 48-50 quarts.    I bought the pears on Monday, and here it is Saturday and they are finally ready and ripe to can up!  The pears come from Washington state, and I buy them every year in 14 pound boxes for a little over 8 bucks a box.

First the pears are peeled and quartered and put into a lemon juice/water bowl. 

Peeling pears over a bucket is the biggest chore.  They are so slippery!

Jars are filled with pears and a very light sugar syrup. 

The finished jars!  I have canned 28 quarts so far.