Preserving the Perfect Pear

I have two pear trees in my garden and a Beurre Bosc growing in a pot. One tree fruited beautifully, and the potted Bosc had enough pears to pick to preserve.

I used my Fowlers Vacola 'Simple Natural Preserving Kit' to preserve the pears. I love this unit as it only takes one hour to preserve fruit, and there is no need to monitor the temperature, which is different from my mum's old unit, which had a thermometer that she had to monitor.

Once I had peeled and cored the pears, I sliced them into quarters and packed them into number 31 Fowlers jars. (I placed the rings onto the jars before this step.) Once the jars were full with space left at the top, I placed one tablespoon of honey in a small bowl and mixed just enough boiling water with the honey to melt it. I poured this into the jar of pears, filled the remainder of the jar with water, and then placed the lid on top with the clip.(I followed this step for each jar of pears.)

After filling six jars with the pears and honey syrup, I placed them into the Fowlers Unit, filled the unit with water up to the designated line, and turned the unit on for one hour. After this time, I took the jars out of the unit and placed them onto a wooden board to cool. I took the clips off the jars after 24 hours and had the perfect seal.

What a perfect way to enjoy pears throughout the winter months, knowing that they came from my garden.