Did you know that the discovery of gold in the Sierra foothills created the largest migration in US history? More than 300,000 pioneers, full of dreams of hitting it big, headed to California's Gold Country between 1848 and 1855, and changed life here forever. San Francisco exploded from a population of 200 in 1846 to 36,000 in 1852! Agriculture and ranching expanded throughout the state to meet the needs of the new settlers.
An early crop brought by prospectors traveling from the East Coast was pears, specifically Bartlett Pears. For those who planted and farmed those early pear trees, they struck their own kind of gold. Turns out, California weather was ideal for growing pear trees, and this fruit became an early part of California's vast commercial fruit empire.
In late July, I was lucky enough to visit the Courtland area of the Sacramento Delta, about 45 minutes south of Sacramento, to tour a couple of pear growers’ orchards in the last days of the harvest. The Delta was one of the highways into the Gold Country, and our tour was provided by the California Pear Advisory Board as part of attending the recent IFBC (International Food Bloggers Conference).
Riding in a bus through the patchwork of canals, over old bridges, and through vibrant farmland, I peered out the window at the heart and soul of California. We met several families of 4th and 5th generations of carrying on the family tradition of growing pears – and gained a real sense of their close-knit community.
By the way, if you’re considering becoming a pear grower, you’ll need some patience. It takes 10 years to make a living, and all the work is still done by hand – both the pear tree pruning and pear harvesting. Farm workers, armed with large shears, set up ladders under boughs heavy with fruit, and cut down large bundles of pears. Then they move the ladders a few feet along rows of trees, and repeat. And now think about the fact that one of the orchards we visited produces more than 20,000 tons of pears.
As part of our tour, we feasted on pear hard cider, pear cobbler, balsamic endive salad with pears, and sandwiches layered with cured meats and pears, and chatted under a huge spreading California live oak tree. It was a hot day, and the shade and occasional breeze were welcome respite from the 100˚F degree heat.
I walked away with a big bag of Bartlett pears, and a desire to return soon. Fall and spring are beautiful times of the year to visit the area. Next time I want to take a ferry between the islands formed by the Delta. There are salmon and shad runs, river otters, and the occasional lost sea lion. More rarely, a really lost whale that needs shepherded back to the ocean. And acres and acres of lush farmlands.
So here’s what I made with my bag of Barletts – Four jars of luscious, gold, pear butter. It's perfect on a morning piece of toast, but there are so many other ways to use it!
Smear a dab on a ginger cookie
Use it for basting winter squash like roasted butternut or acorn squash
Heat and lightly brush on fruit toppings, in lieu of apricot jam
For the meat eaters, baste on roasted pork loin as a glaze in the last 10 minutes of roasting
Stir into Greek yogurt and top with granola
Heat and spoon a dollop onto ice cream
Use a a pancake or waffle topping with maple syrup
Stuff into crepes along with sliced pears
Tips for Making Jam
- Always sterilize your jars and lids. There are a few ways to do this, but I bring a large pot of water to a boil and dip the jars in for 2 minutes, and then the lids for the same amount of time. Dry on a towel while you make the jam.
- Use a large, wide-mouthed pot when making jam. I use a large Creuset pot, which works wonderfully.
- The setting temperature - the point where jams begin to gel - is generally 8˚F above boiling. Boiling at sea level is around 212˚F, so a jam's setting temperature is around 220˚F. Boiling temperatures drop 1˚F for each 500 feet increased altitude above sea level. This is one of at least three ways to determine whether a jam has set up, but not necessarily the best or only method you should use.
- The two methods I use most often for determining if a jam has set up are:
- Dip a large metal spoon into the hot, boiling jam. Ladle a little jam into the spoon, raise it above the pot, and pour the liquid back in. If the jam has set up properly, once most of the liquid has poured back into the pot, there will be at least two large drops formed that join together and drop into the pot in a sheet. This is called the sheet test, and sometimes the spoon test.
- Chill a small plate in the freezer for at least 15 minutes. Ladle a little jam onto the chilled plate and return it to the freezer for 1 minute to cool. Remove and tilt the plate. If the jam runs easily, it's not set up. If it moves very slowly - slower than molasses - it's ready.
- When ladling the jam into the sterilized jars, take care to keep the rims of the jars clean. There are some great tools to do that - and this is the one I use (affiliate link):
(Click on the picture above for further information or to order.)
- Even when using a tool that nests inside a jar, wipe the rims of the jars before screwing on the lids.
- I finish with a hot water bath for the jars filled with hot jam to ensure a good seal. If you don't have a special pot for this, tie together some lids to form a tray of sorts, place them at the bottom of a large pot, and fill it with water. Bring to a boil and place the jars filled with jam on the *tray*. If you're planning on doing a bit of canning, though, I recommend investing in a canning rack like this (affiliate link):
(Click on the picture above for further information or to order.)
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- Simmer at a low boil for 10 minutes and remove with tongs. If the jars are sealed properly, the center of the lid will not buckle when gently pressed with your finger.
Pear Butter with Ginger and Vanilla
Ingredients
- 4 to 5 pounds chopped Bartlett pears do not peel or core them (remove any bruised or damaged parts)
- 1 5 inch long cinnamon stick
- 2 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger I use this ginger from Gourmet Garden
- 1 vanilla bean split along its length
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup bottled lemon juice not freshly squeezed
- 3-4 cups sugar
Instructions
- Place the chopped pears, cinnamon stick, ginger, and vanilla bean into a large, wide-mouthed, heavy-bottomed pot. My creuset is perfect for this! Add the water and lemon juice, and bring to a boil.
- Lower the heat to a simmer and cook until the pears are completely soft. The time for this will vary according to the hardness of the pears, but it took me about 30 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Remove the cinnamon stick and vanilla bean, and set aside. Strain the solids out of the pear mixture into a large bowl using a food mill, chinoise, or other finely meshed strainer. Use a wooden spoon to push all of the pulp through the mesh if using a chinoise or other mesh strainer. Discard the solids (but not the cinnamon stick or vanilla bean).
- Pour the pear purée into a large measuring cup designed for liquids - I recommend a 4-cup measuring cup - to determine how many cups of purée you have. This is very important in order to determine how much sugar to add.
- Pour the purée back into the pot used for simmering the pears, and add ½ cup sugar for every cup of pear purée. Bring the pear mixture back to a simmer and stir with a large wooden spoon to dissolve the sugar. Add the reserved cinnamon stick and vanilla bean if you prefer a stronger cinnamon and vanilla flavor.
- Maintain a simmer, stirring as needed to prevent the purée from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Initially, the stirring need only be occasional, but as the purée thickens into a butter/jam, the stirring will be very often. Towards the end, when the jam/butter is very thick, it will be necessary to stir it almost constantly to prevent caramelization of the sugar on the bottom of the pot. The entire process can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, depending on many factors, but it took me just over 45 minutes.
- There are a few ways to tell if the preserves have set up properly:
- The setting temperature – the point where jams begin to gel – is generally 8˚F above boiling. Boiling at sea level is around 212˚F, so a jam’s setting temperature is around 220˚F. Boiling temperatures drop 1˚F for each 500 feet increased altitude above sea level. This is one of at least three ways to determine whether a jam has set up, but not necessarily the best or only method you should use.
- Dip a large metal spoon into the hot, boiling jam. Ladle a little jam into the spoon, raise it above the pot, and pour the liquid back in. If the jam has set up properly, once most of the liquid has poured back into the pot, there will be at least two large drops formed that join together and drop into the pot in a sheet. This is called the sheet test, and sometimes the spoon test.
- Chill a small plate in the freezer for at least 15 minutes. Ladle a little jam onto the chilled plate and return it to the freezer for 1 minute to cool. Remove and tilt the plate. If the jam runs easily, it’s not set up. If it moves very slowly – slower than molasses – it’s ready.
- While the mixture is cooking, sterilize the jars for canning by carefully placing in a large pot of boiling water for 10 minutes along with the rings and lids. Dry up side down on a clean towel.
- When the pear butter is ready, pour into hot, sterilized jars and seal, allowing for ¼-inch head room between the pear butter and the tops of the jars. To ensure a good seal, I finish with a hot water bath for 10 minutes. A hot water bath means placing a rack on the bottom of pot of boiling water, and placing the jars of pear butter on the rack. They should be completely submerged in the water. Otherwise, I recommend storing the pear butter in the refrigerator.
Notes
Liz
I've never heard of pear butter before! Definitely need to try this out!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
You definitely must try it! It's so good on a warm biscuit on a chilly fall morning.
Jamie
I love all the flavors in this pear butter! I can't wait to spread this on my morning toast and enjoy these fall mornings!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Totally perfect this time of year! Thanks so much!
Luci
I will be making this for Christmas gifts, I know it will be a hit.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Wonderful! Let me know how it goes for you!
Krissy Allori
Oh wow, all the flavors in this sound amazing! Sign me up.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Thanks so much!!!
Sonal
Beautiful flavor profile of this butter. Ginger adds perfect warmth to the fall and winter recipes. Must smell
So good
The Wimpy Vegetarian
It makes my whole house smell so yummy!
Donna
Where in the process is the lemon juice?
Donna
Oops I see where the lemon juice comes in. I'm going to use oj instead, to lazy to run to store fore lemon
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Orange juice is a lot sweeter than lemon juice, so you'd have to adjust the sugar down. But you'll still lose the acid contrast. I recommend you wait until you can pick up some lemon juice for the best results.
Kim
This looks like a great combination. I am always after new ways to use pears. Thanks for sharing this jam and for all the helpful tips.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
You're so welcome! I love to find new ways to use pears too. I how you like it!
Meg
I pulled some pears from my freezer yesterday. I will be trying this recipe today using candied ginger to replace the fresh. My guess is that it will be just fine. Taking a chance, we’ll see...
Those sweet pears are too good to waste.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Candied ginger should work just fine. Depending on how sugary they are, you won't need as much sugar in making the jam, I would think. Let me know how it goes. I always have candied ginger on hand, and it would be a fun way to use it!
Luther utt
I don't see anything about jar size, though the picture of the finished product looks like half pint jars. Could you be more specific in jar size? Thanks
The Wimpy Vegetarian
They are indeed 1/2 pint jars. Excellent question, and I'll update the recipe right now to include this information!
Luther
A great recipe, though I notice that the recipe here is different in quantity of pears as well as output results from the one I printed. One I got from here used 6-7.5 pounds of pears, which resulted in 8 pint jars.
Taste is really great, much better than a previous recipe I had used a couple of years ago. Mine did result in a much deeper color than is shown here, but then the cooking time was a lot longer. Very good directions but I will say that the total time was way off. I know there was a note that times could vary depending on a number of factors, however from start to finish I was at 4 hours which included the canning process.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
This is great feedback, Luther. Thanks! I'm making it again this week - and will state the weight of the pears more specifically. I put in a range of 4 - 5 pounds. You started with more pears, it sounds like. There are a couple things I'm wondering if made such a difference in time to make this jam / butter. Having more pears may have made it longer - so I think I'll make my next batch using a range of 6 - 7.5 pounds. Also, I'm making the jam where I live at 7100 feet. The boiling temperature up here is lower than at sea level, and therefore may hasten the entire process. I'm going to research this and update the recipe with additional information. I'm so happy you liked the results, but a 4-hour investment needs to be planned. And you didn't begin the recipe with that plan in mind. My apologies. Thanks again - and I AM thrilled that you liked the flavor so much!!
Kimberly
This recipe was perfect to use up over-ripe pears I had from my tree this year. I about doubled the ginger and added a couple cardamom pods to the purée. I also used yuzu instead of lemon juice haha. I’m happy with how flexible the recipe turned out to be for me. I had never made a fruit butter before.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I love the idea of adding cardamom pods! I'm going to do that in my next batch! It goes so well with pears and ginger. I so happy you liked it!!