Pear Butter,What Really Happend

Ok, so I posted yesterday that I intended to use the crockpot and let it do the work for me.BUT, I kinda needed to have it finished by the time I picked Nate up from school.So inorder to save time,I let the pears cook in the crockpot for about an hr and half,then added them to my big deep stock pot. It still took them right at 2 hrs to cook like that,on med heat,with a lid over it.
I washed my jars.This year since I stocked up last year,I have not had to buy any jars. But yesterday I had to scour my kitchen and china cabinet for loose stragelers.I even poured a few things out from 2 half pints I had in the fridge. I washed 5 pints, 4 half pints,and one teeny lil 1/4 pint jar. Got my big canner going. It didnt start even boiling until time to put the jars into it.
So, aside from using my stock pot,I still followed the basic instructions. I got out the blender, which Ive never had good luck with,mind you,so I was a wee leary of how that would all work. But thankfully,I had all my dishes washed and had a large mixing bowl handy. So,I used a 2 cup measuring cup and added 4 cups at a time inti the blender. I hit puree for about one solid minute,then hit blend on high for about 30 seconds. It turned into a sort of taupe color with brown specks in it. The brown specks being peeling. I tasted the plain pears. to them I added 1 cup of left over preserve syrup from a batch of preserves I cooked lightly. then added 2/3 cup sugar. Plenty sweet. I think if you dont have any sugar try 1/2 cup white corn syrup,then taste.Add more as needed. so back into the pot the pears went,again on meduim heat. since I didnt like the color,I added a few drops of neon pink food coloring,and a few drops of purple. It came out mauve and I liked it. so,then I added an 11 oz bag of cramel bits. and began to stir. and stir and stir, I also turned up the heat to med/high. You know your own stove and how temps work,so on my trusty builder grade hotpoint stove between 7 and 8 is where it sat. I ran to potty, scrubbing my hands,of cource. I bet I washed my hands 5 times during the cooking process. I didnt want to contaminate anything. then I cranked up the heat to high and kept stirring the entire time. {I had the radio on,so me and the Judds,sang to the bubbling caludron} You get into a rythm with it, being sure that youre touching the bottom with the wooden spoon. Id stir for 5 minutes at a time,then check to see exactly HOW it was boiling. I wanted it to rolling boil before I jarred it up. When I removed my spoon,and the mauve lava esque stuff hit the bottom of our over stove microwave,I determined it was time to jar up. My canning funnel came in SO handy for this batch. Some things you dont have to use it with,but this stuff,it was a MUST. I removed it from the heat,and set it on my silicone pampered chef square thingie. But a dishtowel works fine too.Just double it over, b/c that heavy bottomed pot was HOT! So I began to sppon it into the jars. I spooned nad I spooned. I wound up using every jar I had washed and sterlized. 5 pints, 3 half pints and the one 1/4 pint. it worked out perfectly! And my my does hte butter taste GOOD!!!! Yes,its kinda grainy,but its b/c some of the pears are.
I fully plan on making another batch of this stuff either today or tomorrow and dont plan on changing my techinque at all. I am going to have to get up in the attic and dig around in my box of jars up there. And I may have to buy some more lids. But if I dont have enoguh pints,the pear butter will be going into quarts!
So thats how it really went down at my house with Mama's time tested recipe. The only thing she said shed do different was not use the food coloring! She likes natural colored stuff and Im more into color! I bet a package of Kooliade added while cooking would work too. And maybe since its 100 % citric acid,it would help with the browning. I think lemon aide flavor would work best.

I hope that if you try this,you sing to your pot. A long wooden spoon works great for a mic!

Caramel Pear Butter

So My Mama makes this caramel apple butter that is to die for good.Makes a great fruit dip,or spread,or probably even a good "jam cake". So since I still have pears growing out of my ears, {I really should listen to Josh when he says Ive got enough. :)} So today I called her up and asked if you could use pears to make her caramel stuff,and she siad she didnt see why not. So here goes nothing!

Recipe:
1 crock pot {I have a big one}
20ish med size pears, from other post,friends tree.Im sure the ones from the grocery will work too
2 cups white grape or apple juice. {if you dont have either of those,Im sure water would work}
1 cup sugar
1 bag of Kraft caramels for baking. Those lil pellet looking things.Found seasonaly at the grocery store. Homeade caramel would work,or 2 bags of the wrapped ones.

A large knife
Cutting board
melon baller
garbage bowl handy. {I use a sauce pot that I burned rice in,and even with all my remedies,it aint coming off,so not to toss out a perfectly burned up pan,I use it in leiu of a garbage bowl. TY Rachael Ray}
Collander
Blender or food processor
big pot
Jars. lids rings,water bath canner.{this will not be used for several hours}{about 5 or 6 pint jars}
Wooden spoon, large scooping spoon
canning funnel
sauce pan big enough to fit lids and rings in

1. set crock pot up, turn on high
2. rinse pears in collander in the sink
3. place cutting board on counter,set GB in a handy spot, grab pears.
4. cut the tops and bottoms off pears. {if there is still a nice size morsel on the bottom part, cut it off and toss it into crock pt.
5. scoop out center part of pears. Its ok if you dont get all the woody part out where the stem attaches,it will be pureed later
6. when all the pears are in the crockpot, add 2 cups juice. {mind you the pears still have the peeling on them
7. cover crock pot and let it work its mushing,cooking majic for about 4 hours{I think overnight on low would be fine too}
8.when pears have cooked down and are a mushy consistancy, pour pears into a large stock pot.
9. Using a large spoon, add pears,in small groups into the blender,return to crock pot.
10. Taste pears, if they are as sweet as you want them only add 1/2 cup sugar.But if the pears are a wee under ripe,add the whole cup
11.add caramel bits, the whole bag stir very well. return crock pot to high heat setting and cover.
12. stir about every 20 minutes until the caramel has all melted and pears are a thick,gloppy consitancy
13.while the caramel is melting and doing it yummy thing, wash your jars. It should make about 5 pints,but wash more,just to be sure.{Im writting the recipe before the canning part,so i really dont know just yet}
14. Crank up the heat under the water bath canner
15. place lids and rings into sauce pan,cover with water and boil
16. When pear mix is the consitancy you want it, spoon into jars.leaving 1/4 inch head space
17. Water bath pints for ten minutes, or half pints for 5.

ENJOY!!!
* apples may be used in place of pears. I reccomend either Granny Smith, or Macintosh. Or use a mix of both.
* Use any variety of pears you like. Mine come from a tree in a friends yard and are just yard variety green pears. If you use bosc pears,I reccomend adding some green ones in it too.Bosc are sweet,and you add sugar to it.
* My Mom sent a jar of this with Nathan to his first grade teacher for a lil "happy". She to this day still raves about it. She will be getting a pint of this pear stuff