Very Ripe Clapp's Pears -- what to do?

14 years ago

OK, I shouldn't have done this, because "out of sight, out of mind" happened. We picked all the beautiful red Clapp's Pears on our tree, and set them carefully on a shelf in our fairly cool canning pantry ... and forgot about them.

Now they're very ripe, and the interior flesh has some browning discoloration.

I'd hate to lose their value as an edible fruit, so can I make:

Pear Honey;

Applesauce with pears;

Apple butter with pears;

Use the Steam Juicer to make juice; or

Bake items with the pears and freeze for later?

I hope someone has some good ideas. We have 50 beautiful large red fruits just waiting to come to some good use!

Kathy

Comments (4)

annie1992
14 years ago
Kathy, as long as your pears aren't spoiled, starting to rot, or taste bad, I don't see why they couldn't be used in pear butter, in sauce or as juice. They might not be as good in something like pear crisp or cobbler, and they're probably much too ripe to use in something like preserves.

Hurry, make SOMETHING with them, I'm leaning toward pear butter!

Annie
digdirt2
14 years ago
I'd vote for the applesauce with pears aka pearsauce ;) - first thing I though of when I read your post title - GREAT stuff!! And leave it a bit chunkier than you would applesauce.

Wife also makes pearsauce-raisin muffins - freeze well and especially good for breakfast or snacks.

Pearsauce-Raisin Muffins

1/3 c. butter or margarine, softened
1 c. sugar
1 egg
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. pearsauce
1 c. raisins (we prefer yellow/white ones)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin pans. Mix all ingredients, except raisins, until well blended. Stir in raisins. Fill muffin tins. Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Dave
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dgkritch
14 years ago
Kathy, You could always just core, chop and freeze for now while you decide. Have you tasted to make sure they still taste "right"? Otherwise, any recipe isn't going to come out very well. :-(

C&Ping that recipe Dave! Thanks!

I have Vanilla Pearsauce that I made last year from some overripe Bosc pears and vanilla beans. The flavor is a bit strong for me for straight eating, but I'm bettin' it'll be awesome in these muffins!

Deanna
dogear6
14 years ago
I would also suggest the brandied apple and candied apple recipes from the Ball Book. Adjust the recipe by not cooking as long since the pears are already so ripe.

I had the opposite problem - rock hard pears. I cooked them longer to compensate and they canned up beautifully.

I also attached a link for an applesauce recipe that can disguise imperfections in the fruit. Since your pears are so very ripe, you might want to cut the sugar back until you taste them. I would not peel the pears before hand. Cook until soft enough to put through a food mill, then add the rest of the ingredients and finish cooking.

I freeze this recipe, although it should can up just fine in a BWB.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chunky Spiced Applesauce