pear butter weekend

Pear season is here which means that this past weekend, we got our first stab at putting up the only sweet preserve that we really eat – pear butter. We spread it on pancakes, toast and crackers and add little bits to our oatmeal and yogurt on school mornings to help break up the monotony of quick breakfasts.

It also happens to be the 8yo’s most favorite thing. She’s not as in to cooking these days, so this made for the perfect opportunity to get her in the kitchen. She’s developed a slight fear of the stove (gah), so I put our prepping and jar-filling station at the kitchen island. Keeping her on her feet at the counter instead of at the dining room table also meant that she stayed focused. I also invested in an apple corer ($3) which elevated her “help with prep” into actual prep work.

I gave her a bit of a break while I cooked down the butter on the stove top and invited her back into the kitchen once I had transferred the large pot of pear butter to the counter for filling jars. She scooped the butter into a small 1-cup liquid measure with a pour spout and then transferred her pre-measured portion to the jars without event. Did all the other bits (bubbled, lidded, banded, processed) and waited for the magical pings.

We made it through about 6 pounds of pears from start to pings in under two hours and had 7 pints to show for it. Our stash is already shrinking so we’re planning more batches before school gets underway in a couple of weeks. Feel confident enough that we may invite a friend and her son over to help.