This delicious pear honey can be used on pancakes or waffles instead of regular syrup, on crackers with goat cheese, in smoothies, in a pear honey and peanut butter sandwich… really, the possibilities are endless. Pear honey is more like honey than jam and has a concentrated summer pear flavour. It takes time to cook, but is super easy and makes for a great holiday gift. Pears are in season now, so this is the best time to make this recipe.

Ingredients:

20 cups peeled, cored and diced ripe pears (takes approx 3 – 6 whole pears to get 4 cups)
5 cups brown sugar
6 ¼ cups white granulated sugar
2.5 cups pineapple juice
(Note: You can make a smaller batch, but you may need to reduce the cooking time.)

Instructions:

1. Pour pineapple juice in a large cooking pot. Add diced pear as it’s prepared and stir to coat with pineapple juice to prevent browning. The acid in the pineapple juice also helps prevent spoiling, so if you don’t have pineapple juice, add lemon juice instead.

2. Turn heat to medium-low and bring mixture to a simmer, stirring often to prevent burning. Once the mixture reaches a simmer, turn heat down to low and simmer uncovered for 2 hours, stirring often. When you stir it, make sure to scrap the bottom of the pot clean each time so that the ingredients don’t stick and burn.

3. After 2 hour is up, add the white and brown sugar to the pear mixture and stir well. Continue to simmer on low uncovered for another hour, stirring often.

4. The pear honey is now ready to pour into hot sterilized jars. Sealed jars should then be placed in a simmering water bath for 10 minutes to finish the sterilization process. For information on how to can, see the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning.

Happy canning!