how to store buncha pears

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I'm amazed by all the wasted fruit I see this time of year! Tons of pears and apples just piling up under the trees, and nobody bothers to collect them. We gathered two boxfuls of pears from an unidentified tree in my mom's apartment complex, and I need advice on ripening & storing them, if not actually canning & freezing them. Would prefer just to store them for in-hand eating. We do have a root cellar...

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), October 10, 2001

Answers

When not knowing the brand of pears and they are geeting overly ripe, I would experiment as to whether they are canner or freezer bu doing up a couple jars. If they are too muchy for your taste and you really like pear I have made Pear butter{like apple butter}, dried pear wraps or leather,syrup or just plain sauce that can used in place of shortening in baking. I tried juice but didn't go over to good until I blended with other juice or used in Jello instead of the cold water . I have done all the above with apple and peaches. Good luck.

Lenny

-- darlene leonhart (dleonhart@sprynet.com), October 10, 2001.


In Central Texas, we had the big almost round pears, and found them to be great for canning. My favorite way to use them is in a seafoam salad.

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), October 10, 2001.

Shannon, for eating them out of hand, I would try wrapping each one in newspaper and storing them in a box in a cool dry place. When you individually wrap them, you have a better chance of keeping spoilage from spreading. Hope this helps!

-- cowgirlone (cowgirlone47@hotmail.cpm), October 10, 2001.

I feel the same way and wish I had time to can all those pears and apples. Get a box of straw and put them in there where they are not touching each other.May last longer in a root cellar than where I keep them in the house. It is best not to have any pressure on them because that causes a bruise which leads to rotten

-- Terry Lipe (elipe@fidnet.com), October 10, 2001.

Pick them over - anything which even looks like it's thinking of being bruised will rot, given time - pears do this deliberately and maliciously, I'm convinced. Make juice of the ones that won't last. You may use the juice straight (say freeze it until you do). You may use it as syrup in canning things (pears or other fruit - check how many tinned fruits in the supermarket are tinned in pear juice these days). Or you might make perry out of it - equal to champagne - a fine sparkling alcoholic beverage. Or if you're not into alcoholic beverages you could chill it and then carbonate it.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), October 10, 2001.


If the fruit was picked up from the ground, I would not recommend trying to store it. It will bruise on the spot where it hit a branch or the ground. The best ones to store are the hand-picked and gently handled pears. Pear-applesauce is great. We find we didn't eat the pear slices as much as the sauce.

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), October 10, 2001.

I just got 3 bushel from my neighbors and I can tell you they are ripening fast - almost too fast! I've been making pear jam like crazy and also pear honey. The pear jam recipe is in the box of sure jel.

-- ugly (here@home.com), October 10, 2001.

Pear nectar is good.

-- Barb Fischer (bfischer42@hotmail.com), October 10, 2001.

Pear pie is delicious if the pears are the hard kind. Use the apple pie recipe - tastes a lot like apple pie. The hard ones will can very well, too, but be sure they're ripe - I canned some that were'nt quite ripe and even after canning, they gave me a tummyache!

-- Bonnie (chilton@stateline-isp.com), October 10, 2001.

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