Yes I Can

I made pear preserves again. I chopped up 9 large organic Bartlett pears and 9 large organic D'Anjou pears and added 6 cups of sugar, covered them and let them rest for 12 hours; this time I replaced 2 cups of sugar with raw local Texas honey. It's a nice flavor if you enjoy honey and pears. I always try to use honey and/or dark brown sugar instead of white sugar- but I read online that you cannot make preserves with only honey.

After the mixture rest for 12 hours, I boil it for four hours until it reduces to a nice thick consistency. I load up my jars with the hot preserves, secure the lids, boil the filled jars for 10 minutes to sterilize the contents, and then rest the jars on the kitchen towel until they pop.

In the mornings I make oatmeal and I sweeten it with pear preserves and berries. It's delicious, and I feel like the pears give me additional nutrients. I also like to eat pear preserves on buttered toast, and I like to spread goat cheese on dry toast and then cover the top of cheese in pear preserves. Yum.

I wish I had a spot to plant a pear tree in our yard. The only way this could be more fun is if I used pears from a tree in our yard. I also wish Glenda was still alive so I could call and tell her about my canning success. She'd be proud. My husband does not like pears. He does not like honey. He does not like preserves of any kind. (He'll only eat grape jelly out of the squeezable bottle.) But he does like to help me can my preserves. It's a fun fall thing to do together.