Canning Asian Pears
Though they're a low-acid food, Asian pears are safe for home water bath canning, provided you add lemon juice to the canning liquid.
Ingredients
- Asian Pears
- Canning Liquid Water, Syrup or Juice
- Lemon Juice 1 Tbsp per Pint
Instructions
- Prepare a water bath canner and canning jars (pints or quarts).
- Peel and core pears, and slice or leave as pear halves. Put the pear pieces into water with a bit of lemon juice to prevent browning.
- Prepare canning liquid of your choice (water, apple juice, pear juice, white grape juice or sugar syrup). Bring the pear pieces to a boil in the canning liquid and cook for 5 minutes.
- Hot pack the pear pieces into canning jars leaving 1 inch headspace, and add 1 tablespoon lemon juice to pints (or 2 tbsp for quart jars).
- Pour boiling canning liquid over the top of the pears, this time leaving only 1/2 inch headspace.
- De-bubble jars, adjust headspace, wipe rims, apply 2 part canning lids and process in a water bath canner. (20 minutes for pints, and 25 minutes for quarts).
Notes
A canner load of 7 quarts requires 17 to 19 pounds of asian pears, while a canner load of 9 pints requires 11 to 13 pounds of fruit.
I prefer to can Asian pears in extra light syrup, and I make a syrup with 10 1/2 cups of water to 1 1/4 cups sugar for a canner load of 7 quarts.