Preserving a Box of Pears

Pears are one of my favorite seasonal treats but their season never seems to last very long.  I was able to get a decent price on a box of perfectly ripe Bartlett pears at the local farmers market and when I finally found a few hours to get some work done I went about the business of preserving them.

I started with canning them.  One by one each pear was peeled, quartered and cored and the pieces were soaked in a lemon juice solution to prevent browning before I processed them with light syrup in the canner.  I only did one canner load so I ended up with 8 pints of canned pears.

The rest of the pears were getting close to being over ripe and were very sweet so I decided to dehydrate what was left.  They were also peeled, quartered and cored before they were laid out on the trays to dry.  The end result were leathery pieces of pear that were so sweet that they tasted like candy.  I was able to dry ten pounds of pears down to a small enough volume that they only filled a quart jar.  I have a feeling that these sweet treats won't be around long, so next year I may have to be sure to make more.