Microwave?

[digitS']

A very minor adventure for this non-canner ...

(The 2 freezers are stuffed. The ice cube tray came out recently and went on a kitchen shelf - that's what finding additional room has come down to .)

However. DW bought a dozen Bartlett pears this week. In October! Of course, they came from cold storage and were ripening quickly. Down to 8, I decided to make the pear butter promised repeatedly .

Lazy dude, skeered of splattered hot jam while stirring on the burners - I decided to try it in the microwave. After 16 minutes of cooking the pear quarters at 50% power, I was able to pour off a cup of water and put the fruit in the blender. Back for another 16 minutes at 50% with the pulp boiling cheerfully throughout . Reduce power to 30% and boil for another half an hour. Cool ... It didn't set up right .

Okay, I have some low-sugar pectin and some agar-agar. Think I'll go with the agar-agar ... influenced by how my pear butter recipe called for so much sugar! And, I certainly don't want to spend another hour messing with the slow-boil, either on the stove or microwave.

I'll git a round-toit sometime today and let you know how it turned out after it cools. Now. Back to my laundry!

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

A very minor adventure for this non-canner ...

(The 2 freezers are stuffed. The ice cube tray came out recently and went on a kitchen shelf - that's what finding additional room has come down to .)

However. DW bought a dozen Bartlett pears this week. In October! Of course, they came from cold storage and were ripening quickly. Down to 8, I decided to make the pear butter promised repeatedly .

Lazy dude, skeered of splattered hot jam while stirring on the burners - I decided to try it in the microwave. After 16 minutes of cooking the pear quarters at 50% power, I was able to pour off a cup of water and put the fruit in the blender. Back for another 16 minutes at 50% with the pulp boiling cheerfully throughout . Reduce power to 30% and boil for another half an hour. Cool ... It didn't set up right .

Okay, I have some low-sugar pectin and some agar-agar. Think I'll go with the agar-agar ... influenced by how my pear butter recipe called for so much sugar! And, I certainly don't want to spend another hour messing with the slow-boil, either on the stove or microwave.

I'll git a round-toit sometime today and let you know how it turned out after it cools. Now. Back to my laundry!

Steve

i found out some years ago that it took way too much time and energy for making peach butter than what i wanted to get into. one small batch was enough and the rest of the preprations for it i just jarred up and sealed away and called it Lemon Peach Sauce and we loved it. i had 24 pints of it or something like that. it took us four or five years to use it all up.

pears have such a delicate flavor and nuances that i'd hate to cook them for long and generally i mostly eat them fresh (green and crunchy to fully ripe is good with me). i can't even remember the last time we bought canned pears of any kind. they're just not my thing and Mom has never mentioned them being important to her either. i think they're mixed in with the canned fruit-cocktail stuff but i haven't seen a can of that in this house ever that i can recall. we'll get canned peaches or apricots for certain things that she makes and i like those. i can't eat either of those fresh as there is something in them that breaks down with heat so i can eat them cooked/canned. apples too sometimes i can eat plain but others must be cooked. life is interesting...

what were you talking about? haha...

 

[digitS']

So much for trying to do things off the cuff .

Changed my mind having decided that the extra sugar should work with pectin to gel better, not worse. Heated the "butter." Poured 3/4 cup out, added 1 1/2 teaspoons of pectin to it, and brought that that to a rolling boil. Stirred that into the other hot "butter."

Might have made a difference ...

i found out some years ago that it took way too much time and energy for making peach butter than what i wanted to get into. one small batch was enough ...

That's some of IT, FlowerBug. We have been keeping a jar of this or that jam in the fridge and those 12 oz, or whatever they are, will last us 6 or 8 weeks. So ... how much do we require?

I like pear butter and have enjoyed what was made in the past. Don't see it on the soopermarket shelves. What I have now will work fine on pancakes or a waffle. With that other jar of jam, we are probably set for the winter . PB&J sandwiches can be something else for ventures out to the big veggie garden next year .

Steve