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What else do I have to do!
Topic Started: Nov 1 2011, 12:04 AM (166 Views)
Banandangees
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Do you like homemade apple sauce? I do. We make some every year from our MacIntosh and two small, tart crab apple trees. Turns out a nice, dark pink sauce.

Well, we also have these pear trees. Two are Bartlett pear and one a Bosc. The Bartlett ripens earlier and are a softer, yellow skinned pear, great for fresh eating. The Bosc is a dark skinned pear that matures somewhat later. As you know, unlike apples, you rarely eat them right from the tree.... to hard, especially the Bosc, they are like biting into a brick. Pears need to "ripen" (soften) for a few day to a week after picking or falling from the tree.

Well, after eating and giving some away, we finished up the Bartletts. Then came about a bushel of Boscs, mature on the tree, beautiful size and shape but as I said, hard as a brick. We let them sit for about a week and of course, they all ripen about the same time. What to do with all these pears? Why not make pear sauce? Never made pear sauce before. Looked it up on the Internet and found a variety of methods. Several said to bake the pears to soften. Several said steam them. Some said peal, core and cube them first then mash them with a potato masher. Sounded like a lot of work to me.

I decided to do them as we did the apples.. put them in a large pot with about a cup or two of water and steam them to softness. Well, they sure got soft with much "drippings into the water below. After they cooled a little I ran them, as I do the apples, skins, cores and all, through our Squeezo strainer sauce maker. It came out much more "juicer" than that of apple sauce, but we did the whole bushel that way. The wife said, "we're going to have to boil it down some to make it thicker." The aroma was out of this world. If the sauce tasted as good as the aroma smelled it was going to be good. It took about an hour to boil it to the consistency that we wanted, but I tell ya, it was worth the effort. Homemade pear sauce is even better than apple sauce. Because we had to wrap things up so we could watch Penn State win JoePa's 409th win, we decided to freeze the sauce instead of can it.

Now we know what to do with all our pears next year..... especially the Bosc. You gotta try it.... and it's got to be homemade.

The water in the bottom of the pot.... with all those drippings and pear residue????? It smelled to good to throw out. I boiled it down some, poured it through a strainer and..... have you ever drunk hot apple cider?? Well this was hot pear cider and I tell you, if you like apple cider, you've got to try pear cider.


THIS IS NOT A POLITICALLY BIASED ANNOUNCEMENT, ANYONE CAN ENJOY PEAR SAUCE/CIDER NO MATTER WHAT THE GOVERNMENT TELLS YOU.
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Mike
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I have never tried pear sauce but your post came just in time.

Due to the cooler summer weather , I have four pear trees that were just picked. The last apple trees were picked in September. I'm going to try the recipe your offered.

As a side note, I have a hand operated contraption for making sauce that was handed down to me by mom. It was my grandmothers and dates to the 19th century. It still works as well as when new.

I wasn't aware you have fruit trees. I have right at forty hear at my place in Nevada and my brother has an orchard in Arizona.that is rented out along with two homes. We have fresh fruit from May until now.
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Banandangees
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Try it! It was fun to make. It seems pears have more sugar content than even apples. No need to add any sugar. The pear sauce is so sweet. In fact, I added several table spoons of lemon juice as recommended, probably to keep the sauce from turning brown I suppose.

My wife had the Squeezo from her mother, made by the original maker. Several other companies have made it since.

Edit: I did have some left over after the game and did can that batch in the pressure cooker.
Edited by Banandangees, Nov 1 2011, 05:31 AM.
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tomdrobin
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When I first moved here in 1979 I thought it would be really neat to have fruit trees in the yard. So, I planted a couple of pear trees and a couple of apple trees. On the years a late frost doesn't kill the blossoms the trees are loaded with so much fruit, we don't know what to do with it. A huge mess in the yard, that primarily ends up being food for the local deer herd. Finally a couple of years ago I had enough, and cut the pear trees down and used the wood for heat. This year the apples had a bumper crop. My neighbor an avid deer hunter has picked up most of the apples and carried them out to the woods for bait under his tree stand. The deer come up starting at dusk to dine. At times there have been 4 or 5 at a time munching apples. Once my dog Jack spots them he goes nuts and we either restrain him will bambi eats, or let him launch off the back deck and run them back into the woods. I'm strongly considering cutting down the apple trees, but they are pretty in the spring.
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Banandangees
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Better wait to cut those apple trees, the apples may be your main diet (that and venison) when the big financial crash hits. :smile:
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tomdrobin
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Banandangees
Nov 2 2011, 01:37 AM
Better wait to cut those apple trees, the apples may be your main diet (that and venison) when the big financial crash hits. :smile:
Yup, if Cantor and Ryan have their way, we will be paying more for medicare. But, in their mind that is justified so they can preserve those Bush tax cuts for their wealthy supporters.
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