YIELDS:
3-3 1/2 Cups
PREP TIME:
0 hours 10 mins
COOK TIME:
0 hours 30 mins
TOTAL TIME:
0 hours 40 mins
ingredients
4 Lbs. Pears (a mix of your favorites)
3/4 Cup water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 Tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
1 Tsp. Ground cinnamon
1/4 Tsp. Freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of kosher salt
DIRECTIONS
1. Wash the pears then cut the pears and remove the stem and any seeds. Then chop into medium-sized cubes.
2. Combine the diced pears, water, lemon juice, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a large pot.
3. Cover the pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until pears are really soft and are easily smashed. This will take about 25-30 minutes.
5. I prefer a chunky sauce with some texture so I mash the pears with a potato masher. However, if you are looking for a real smooth pear sauce, you can add the mix to a blender or food processor to get it smooth (it takes just a minute or two). Be sure you let it cool for about five minutes before adding to the blender since the heat will expand the mix. For safety, if I’m using the blender, I take out the middle piece of the lid for a little ventilation and I put a dry towel over the top and hold in place while blending. In your food processor, you should be fine if you’ve let it cool a few minutes first.
6. At this point, you can let it cool completely and refrigerate until ready to eat.
NOTE: We’ve all had applesauce…it started when we were toddlers. Wasn’t it our first dessert? Well Pear Sauce doesn’t get as much love and it really should. I love pears and this is just another great way to use them. In the winter, I eat them all the time and now, I’ve added Pear Sauce to my recipe collection and use it when baking (instead of oil) and as a sauce and an accompaniment to poultry and pork dishes. It’s great on pancakes and waffles too. It’s good.
You’ll make this just like you make your apple sauce (And if you’ve never made that, no worries, that’s why I wrote the recipe down!). It is not hard at all. First, find the pears you love. I almost always use a mix when I making this…Bartlett, Anjou, etc. You want the pears really ripe. I don’t use any sugar in this recipe so the riper the pears, the sweeter your sauce.
You can leave the skin on the pears or remove it (your choice). Obviously, you get more fiber if you leave the skin on so that’s what I do. (I need all the nutritional value I can get!). Just wash your fruit well before dicing and you are ready to go.
The prepared sauce will last in your refrigerator or about a week. It freezes really well so go ahead and make a batch and put it in a freezer safe container. It also makes a great gift. I’ll bottle it in a mason jar with a tag, bow and maybe a recipe card. It makes a simple homemade
gift that people will love.
