Canning Pears, 2018

The last time I got a bunch of pears I canned some.  As I noted at the time, it went okay.  I followed pretty much the same procedure this time, except that--inspired by Jill Winger at the Prairie Homestead--I didn't peel the pears. It still took about two minutes per pear, however. I guess I've lost whatever speed-processing talents I developed last time around.

One thing I noticed (again) was that some of them had grainy/hard inclusions in them.  When I found them I tried to remove them, but some no doubt are still embedded in the now-processed pears.  Also, I got two batches of pears this time around from Jaemor.  The second bag was much riper on average than the first; some of them were even pretty good for fresh eating (I sampled a couple of quarters while cutting).  Kieffers.  Amazing.  Last  time around I kept some in the refrigerator for a long time, trying to get them to soften and sweeten up.  It didn't go well.  Maybe when my own trees get to the point of producing pears I'll leave some and see if they end up getting softer/sweeter before falling.  The contrast can be seen in the shot below of the quartered slices; some are green while others are pretty yellow.

As I noted back when I first started working with pears, this is the time of year when the Kieffers are dropping all over north Georgia.  It has been going on for a few weeks, but the trees I drive by frequently still have a lot of ripe ones on them.  Maybe tree-ripened palatability is a possibility...

As before, I used a light syrup mix of 1 cup sugar to 3 cups water.  And as before / as always, I failed to get as many pears into each jar as the NCHFP says I should (and as Jill did). I started off with about 18 pounds and cut out about 5 1/2 pounds' worth of bad spots and cores...so I only got about 1.3 pounds of pears in each quart (when counting the net weight, but usually I use the gross [pre-cut] in the figures I cite here, and that's what the NCHFP uses when giving quantities per quart or pint as a general rule).  On top of this I needed almost 15 cups of water and 5 cups of sugar. I raw-packed them because the ones I did last time turned out fine.  There were some quarters left over; I snacked on some but they weren't enough to make a pint, so didn't can a pint jar on top of the 10 quarts.

I heard some booms in the canner during the first load (my canner holds eight quarts, so I had to do two heat cycles).  I wondered if jars were breaking.  As it turned out, I just had some lids get creased.  This happens sometimes and it indicates the bands were put on too tight.  I mentioned last year that I initially (and to some degree still) have trouble getting the right amount of tension on the bands.  Too loose and syrup boils out of the jars, causing a mess and leaving empty space behind; too tight and the lids buckle.  I have never (as far as I can remember) had a bent lid fail to seal, however.  It all works out in the end.

The top picture shows the lids pre-seal, right after coming out of the canner.  There were three lids that buckled in the first batch, so I was unusually heavy-handed when tightening.  I still got a little syrup overflow.  And yes, the jar at the top right does have a reused lid; I noted previously that I periodically reuse lids to test their ability to seal.  So far they have performed pretty well.  It might be good to know sometime.

The next picture shows the same lids (albeit from a different angle) after they have sealed.  And below is a photo from the side post-processing; the pear slices are pretty densely-stacked and still fill the jars.  I don't know how I could get any more in them. Side note:  some of the jars in the photo below are amber.  In recent years, Ball has released a number of color variations--light blue, green, and purple--as commemoratives (there's a purple one at the back right).  Now it appears light blue and amber are going to be available going forward.  Their price is pretty steep compared to the clear glass versions, almost three times as much, but they are nice(r) and help limit light exposure for the contents.