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What to do with 60 pounds of pears

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Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on
Sat, Nov 22, 14 at 18:48

I bought a house last summer and the pear tree had all this fruit on it. I have lost probably 40 pounds to broken limbs and another 40 pounds to deer. I picked the rest a few weeks ago and have been driving them around in my car looking for takers. I have 60 pounds of these...

I'm not a fruit canning person and everyone I know who has shown an interest is too busy to take these off my hands. Is there anything I can do to preserve this fruit until someone has the time to do something with it? Can I process it to a certain point and then freeze it as a pulp or something?

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RE: What to do with 60 pounds of pears

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Wow, that's a lot. Make several pies to freeze for yourself. Put a table out front with a sign ....FREE. Offer them to a seller at a farm market, split the profits 60/40? Good luck.

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RE: What to do with 60 pounds of pears

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  • Posted by digdirt 6b-7a North AR (My Page) on
    Sat, Nov 22, 14 at 19:47

So you don't want to can them? That would be the simplest solution - scrubbed, peeling optional, sliced in half or sliced, heated in some sugar syrup or apple juice, stuffed in a jar with more hot apple juice and a tbp of bottled lemon juice per pint and processed for 20 mins.

Otherwise you can make pear sauce just like applesauce or you can freeze them or dehydrate them.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: How to freeze pears

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RE: What to do with 60 pounds of pears

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Gosh - wish you lived closer to me. It Wasa lousy pear year here. None of the orchards had the canning crates of pears. So I wasn't able to can any and we are all out.

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RE: What to do with 60 pounds of pears

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I scrub, core, and slice mine (peels stay on) mix with a bit of sugar and lemon juice, and throw in the freezer. It works great for bread, pies, and cobbler at a later date.

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RE: What to do with 60 pounds of pears

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dmkelly, do you cube them or leave them sliced?
What do you store them in?
And then how to you revive them from the frozen state for use in a recipe?

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RE: What to do with 60 pounds of pears

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I slice them and store them in freezer zip lock bags. They're a little mushy once they're thawed out but they're great for cobbler, fruit bread, and pies. I drain whatever juice there is but mix it with a thickener and add it back if I need a sauce ( like in cobbler).

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RE: What to do with 60 pounds of pears

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Is there a local food bank that might appreciate some of your excess? Tis the season & all that...

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RE: What to do with 60 pounds of pears

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I agree with carolb. Food has been scarce at our food bank lately.

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RE: What to do with 60 pounds of pears

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First, for next year: I read that if you pick them when they are not quite ripe yet, (which is recommended) then they will store in the fridge for months, and you take them out a few at a time to ripen, so you can eat them all winter. This won't help you this year, of course.

Second, you can make pear sauce easily if you have a sauce mill. You wash them and cook them and run them through the mill. No peeling or coring necessary. Mix them with some apples to increase acidity for canning, or freeze the sauce in baggies.

Last idea: you can run them through a juicer (wash and core, no need to peel) and then freeze the juice. It makes amazing "pear sherbit". You hack it up to serve it -- everyone in our family loves it, and it's like very healthy icecream.

Good luck!

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RE: What to do with 60 pounds of pears

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From what I've learned from Pear orchard growers (they supply some of the stores), you do want to pick them a bit green, then refrigerate them for at least 2 weeks. this helps from them getting mealy.

I would can every one of them, or donate 1/2 and can the rest. I make a pear jelly.

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