Pear Jam

I have coveted my Grandma Lucy's friend's pear jam for some time. It is seriously THE BEST. I attempted to get it as close as possible to hers, and below I will include my recipe, (and you will thank me for sure!) Since we have a good-sized garden, and I try to eat at least some of our meals local/from scratch, I'm going to be doing a lot of canning this year. Homemade is just so much better. My goal is to not have to buy spaghetti sauce/pasta sauce, salsa, jams, or canned fruits next year. I got some strawberries and pears and made some delightful jam. The pear jam recipe is pretty simple, I consulted with my mom and this is what I came up with:

Some PEARS. Fresh, beautiful. Maybe about 9-12? I dunno, depends on the size of the pear. I did a combo of d'anjous and bartletts.

Peel and core, discard skins. (...not into the trash, silly! Give the peels to your chickens and they will love you and reward you with fresh eggs higher in omega-3's. Or compost 'em)

Then, you dice them up reeeaaalll small and mash them with a potato masher. Or, you can squish them with your hands. You can guess which I did. Add 2 Tbsp lemon juice and 1 cup of apple or white grape juice. Put in the pot and gradually add one packet of powdered fruit pectin, stirring.

Boil (bring to a boil that can't be stirred down). You can add 1/2 tsp (no more!) butter to reduce foaming. Then add sugar. I suspected that brown sugar might be just a little bit more delightful...and I was right. You can add 0-4 cups or so, I added one and a half. Return to boil and boil hard for 3 minutes. Now, while you were doing this you should have been preparing your boiling water canner, making sure that your lids and jars are hot and clean. If you need more info about boiling water vs. pressure canning, or other canning basics, let me know. This recipe just needs a boiling water method, which is basically a big pot with a rack in the bottom to lift out the jars and so that they're fully surrounded with water. Only I cheated and didn't use a rack and got lucky, all my jars sealed. Boiling water canners are for high-acid foods ONLY! Otherwise you need a pressure-canner to allow the food to get hotter. Anyways, after your mixture is ready to go, lift your jars out (with tongs....duh) and quickly fill jars, wiping the rims and then centering the lids over the jars. I added about 4 whole cloves to each jar...my mom and I agreed that this is where the magic happens. Leave 1/4 inch headspace. Keep it fast and hot and one at a time.Use new lids each time so that they seal, but jars and bands are reusable. Screw on band (not too tight!) and then return to hot water bath. Make sure water covers jars by 1-2 inches and return to a boil before starting timer and processing for 10 minutes. If water stops boiling or some boils off and you have to add more, pause timer until it returns to a steady boil again. Oh, and have the lid on. I took it off for the picture.

Turn off heat and let jars sit in water for 5 minutes. Then remove (Tongs!) and leave undisturbed for 12-24 hours. You may hear a popping noise, this is the jar sealing! If a jar hasn't sealed after 24 hours either reprocess or refrigerate and eat soon. You test the seal my pressing on the center of the lid; it shouldn't flex up and down. You can then remove the bands. Bands and jars are reusable, but if you have to reprocess, you need a new lid. Here are the strawberry and pear jams, all canned up:

See the cloves in the pear jam? It really does make the jam. And HERE is someone who is really likes her jam...

Waaaayyy better than the store, I promise.