Farmgirl Susan's Easy Low Sugar Pear Butter

Makes 1½ to 2 cups - Recipe may be doubled or tripled
Adapted from I'm Mad and I Eat

For this size batch, I use a 9x13 inch Corningware baking dish (one of my most used dishes). When doubling or tripling the recipe, a large stainless steel roasting pan—another kitchen favorite—works great.

You can process jars of pear butter in a water bath canner, but it will keep unprocessed in the refrigerator for at least a couple of weeks.

Unfortunately pears are high on the Environmental Working Group's list of most contaminated produce, so I recommend seeking out organic pears for this recipe.

3 pounds very ripe organic pears (I've used both Bartlett and d'Anjou)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Optional additions to the pear purée before cooking:
The zest and juice of an orange or a lemon
A cinnamon stick (remove after cooking) or some ground cinnamon
A pinch of ground nutmeg, allspice, star anise, and/or cloves
Fresh ginger or ginger powder
A dash of vanilla or a vanilla bean (remove after cooking)
A little pure almond extract
A splash brandy or pear brandy
Honey in place of the sugar
A few sprigs of fresh rosemary (remove after cooking)

1. Heat the oven to 300°.

2. Cut the pears into large chunks, removing any real bad spots (no need to peel and core unless your pears aren't very soft).

3. Press the pears through a food mill into a large bowl, remembering to reverse the direction of the handle after every few turns. You should end up with about 4 cups of smooth pear purée.

4. Stir in the lemon juice and sugar.

5. Pour the purée into a nonreactive (stainless steel, ceramic, or enamel coated) pan, such as a 9x13 inch Corningware baking dish (or a large stainless steel roasting pan for larger batches) and let it cook, stirring every 30 minutes with a wooden spoon, until it is the desired thickness, about 2 to 2½ hours. Start taste testing after 1½ hours. Remember that it will thicken slightly as it cools.

6. Let the pear butter cool and store it in an airtight dish or jar in the refrigerator. Alternatively, ladle it into clean and hot pint or half-pint canning jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace, adjust the two-piece caps, and process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Recipe source: FarmgirlFare.com