Pear Sauce

If you're an applesauce fan, I'm willing to bet you'd love this pear sauce. 

Just get your hands on six pounds of pears (got way more than that here),

chunk 'em up into a pot of water and lemon juice, then cook for 20 minutes or so before smashing everything up with a potato masher.  Then you add some sugar, vanilla, lemon peel, and salt, cook a bit more, and voila!  A lovely, chunky, lemony potful of pear sauce, which you can ladle into jars and freeze for later.  Yummy.

It is not always, easy, by the way, to tell when pears are ripe.  For those green ones, above, I usually just watch and wait until they turn golden.  But even that is not always foolproof.  Fun fact I found out today from the book Simply in Season (which is crammed with recipes for fruits and vegetables):  Pears are ripe "when the flesh surrounding the stem yields slightly to gentle pressure."  Good to know.

LEMONY PEAR SAUCE

6 lb. pears, peeled and chunked

2 c. water

1/4 c. fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons; save peels for grating)

1/2 c. sugar

2 1/2 t. lemon peel

1 T. vanilla

1/4 t. salt

Combine pears, water, and lemon juice in large pot.  Cover partially and simmer until pears are very soft, about 20 minutes.  Smash with potato masher. 

Stir in sugar, lemon peel, vanilla, and salt.  Cover partially and cook over low heat until mixture is the texture you want (not that long).  You can remove the cover if you want to cook off some of the liquid.  Cool slightly, spoon into jars leaving about one-inch of space if you're going to freeze.  Makes 4 - 5 pints.

 

Fyi, eating pears smothered with hot fudge sauce will help you forget about the other 50 pounds of pears you've got to do something with.  Just sayin'.