Chile Pepper Pear Preserves

Hot Chile Pepper Pear Preserves

Make this using the crunchy pears that are like apples.

Ingredients:

Pears

Sugar

Hot Chile Peppers

Gran Gala Liqueur

10 cups peeled, cored, coarsely chopped hard pears

1¼ cup water

Bring to boil with cover on, reduce heat and cook 20-30 minutes, stirring often to soften pears.  Drain excess water.

*1 cup roasted hot Chile peppers, de-seeded and cored and finely chopped.

7 cups sugar

Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer stirring often 1½ - 2 hours to further soften pears.  Return heat to medium-high and cook stirring often 45 minutes longer or until it reaches the **gel stage (220°). 

Remove from heat and stir in ¼ cup Gran Gala Liqueur, continue to stir 2-3 minutes longer to prevent the fruit from floating to the top; spoon into hot sterilized jars and process in boiling water bath 10 minutes. 

Yield 5 pints.

• To roast peppers, preheat oven to 450°.  Spread peppers on cookie sheet; roast 4-5 minutes until skins blister.  Place in zip lock bag to sweat in their skins for 10-15 minutes.  Once this is done it is easy to slide the tip of a spoon or butter knife in and slip out the seeds and white core.  WEAR GLOVES WHEN WORKING WITH HOT PEPPERS.

• The gel stage is reached at 220°.  Another way to test the gel stage is to place a small plate in the freezer.  Towards the end of cooking time, place a spoonful of the hot mixture on the plate, and return it to the freezer for two minutes.  Check to see if the mixture has gelled.

© Crackerberries 2012

Pear Pie

Harvest Time Pear Pie

1 9-inch pie crust

10 pears, peeled, cored, and sliced

1 cup fig conserves

¾ cup sugar

2 Tbsp whole wheat flour

Pinch of salt

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp cardamom

1-2 tbsp butter or margarine

Preheat oven 400°.

Combine sugar, flour, and spices together.  Add to pears, and mix well.  Fold in conserves. 

Spoon mixture into pie crust, and dot with 1-2 tbsp butter or margarine; lay top pastry over top.  Pinch edges all the way around, and crimp to seal.  Cut air vents in top of crust.  (Use a festive cookie cutter before putting top pie crust on — be sure not to cut all the way through.)

Bake at 400° for 50 minutes, reduce heat to 350° to cook an additional 10-15 minutes, sliding a sharp knife in one of the air vents to check tenderness of pears.  You may need to tent aluminum foil around the edges if they start to get too brown. 

Serve warm with ice cream if desired.

© Crackerberries 2012

Pork & Pear Combos

Porky Pear Egg Rolls

1 lb pork tenderloin cut into bite size pieces

½ tsp fresh ground pepper

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp Creole seasoning

1½ tsp fresh ground gingerroot

1 tsp allspice

1 cup finely chopped pears

1 onion, chopped

1 tbsp brandied pear preserves

8 egg roll wrappers

Oil for frying

Sprinkle pork with pepper, garlic powder and Creole seasoning.  Cook in large skillet until no longer pink, remove from pan.  Cool slightly and then chop up very fine, almost minced.

Add onions and pears to same pan as pork was cooked in and sauté 5 minutes or so.  Return pork to pan and add gingerroot, allspice and pear preserves; cook just until aromatic and hot.  Remove from heat.

Let mixture cool for about 15-20 minutes.  Spoon 2 Tbsp into each egg wrapper and roll and seal like a present.  Deep fry at 350º until golden brown, turning occasionally (about 2 minutes per side); drain on paper towels and serve with fried rice and homemade duck sauce (A.K.A. Brandied Pear Preserves)

© Crackerberries 2011

Brandied Pear Preserves

3½ quarts peeled, cored and chopped pears

2¾ cups water

10 cups sugar

1/3 cup lemon juice

¼ cup Gran Gala Liquor

Combine pears and water and cook on medium high heat, covered for one hour.

Gently mash pears.  Measure 2½ quarts mashed cooked pears.  Add 10 cups sugar and 1/3 cup lemon juice.  Cook 50 minutes until gel stage (220º). 

Remove from heat and stir 5 minutes to prevent fruit from floating.  Stir in stir in ¼ cup Gran Gala triple orange liquor; spoon into hot sterilized jars and process in boiling water bath 20 minutes. 

Yield: 6 pints

© Crackerberries 2011

Pear Pie

{Tastes like pear crisp)

We have a friend that brought us a few pears for processing.  A few in this neck of the woods equals about 50 pounds.  I’ve processed sour pear chutney, pear butter and pear preserves… pears coming out the ears.  Here is a pear pie I kind of just whipped up out of the blue.  If anyone is interested in any of the other pear recipes, let me know, I’ll share.

Graham cracker crust:

1¾ cup graham cracker crumbs

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup flour

5½ tbsp melted butter

Combine all ingredients and mix well.  Press into 10” pie plate.  Bake 350º for ten minutes.  Let cool.

Filling:

7 cups peeled, cored and sliced pears

1 tbsp grated orange rind

4 tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice (from the orange)

½ cup sugar

Combine all ingredients; mix well and spoon into prepared crust.

Topping:

¾ cup flour

6 tbsp butter

¼ tsp ground cloves

¼ tsp ground mace

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp allspice

½ tsp cardamom

Combine all ingredients except butter and mix well.  Cut butter into mixture until crumbly.  Sprinkle over pears and bake 400º for 45 minutes, reduce heat to 350º and bake 15-20 minutes longer until pears are tender.  Serve with whip cream or my favorite, vanilla ice cream; I love it for breakfast.

© Crackerberries 2011