- 3 pounds Bartlett, Bosc, Comice, or Anjou USA Pears, ripe and slightly under-ripe
- 1 fresh lemon, zested and juiced
- 4 cups white sugar
If preferred, peel pears. Cut pears lengthwise into quarters and remove cores and stem ends. Chop pears into chunks, bigger for chunky jam, smaller for a smooth batch.
Combine pears, lemon zest, lemon juice, and sugar in a large bowl. Stir well to combine and cover. Let the mixture sit on the counter at least one hour, but preferably 8 hours, or overnight.
After letting the mixture sit, stir well, scraping any sugar that may have collected on the bottom of the bowl. Place pear mixture in a heavy-bottomed non-reactive pan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the fruit from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Stir the fruit gently while cooking to reduce foaming.
After about 10 minutes the fruit should be soft. Mash the pear chunks with a potato masher if you want smaller pieces, or mash completely for a smooth jam. Boil for 5-15 more minutes, stirring, until the jam either thickens to your liking or until it reaches 220 degrees on a candy thermometer.
Once desired thickness has been achieved, remove the preserving pan from the heat and spoon mixture immediately into hot sterilized jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace for canning, or 1 inch if you plan to freeze. Look for any bubbles and use a plastic knife to pop them.
At this point you can either cover jars with tight-fitting lids and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 months or in the freezer for up to 6 months, or you can process by following the next steps: Wipe rims of jars spotlessly clean and cover with sealing lids. Screw bands on finger-tight. Place jars on rack in boiling water bath canner, ensuring that tops of jars are completely submerged in hot water. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.
Remove jars from canner using jar-lifter tongs and gently set aside to cool on a kitchen towel in a draft-free place. Let rest for 24 hours, then check for a proper seal before storing.
yield: Makes about 4 half pints
- Serving Size: 1 TBSP
- Calories: 120
- Carbohydrate: 31g
- Dietary Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 0g
Such a wonderful recipe!
That should work but we have never personally tried it!
Can you substitute Honey for the sugar?
I made this today. Weighted fruit after prep so weight was good.
left in 1/2″ chunks with skin, let sit overnight in fridge.
Perhpas I should have pureed pears in food processor first but I feel it would have still been too syrupy.
The recipe used too much sugar to fruit. I ended up with chunks of pear in an abundance of sugar. Tastes good. I had to strain fruit into jars and top with syrup.
Then I added another 8 cups of prepped pears (thank goodness I have a abundance of pears!)
Still after the 8 cups of fruit I still had almost 2 cups of syrup left.
Tasty and will use as simple syrup for ice tea.
But this does not make a good jam. I did better last year winging it on my own.
This recipe couldn’t be easier! And, the results are very nearly perfect. Stick to the method and the only variable is the intensity of the pear flavor. I used Bartlett pears from Costco which had a mild pear flavor, peeled and rough chopped to 1/2″, and let them macerate in sugar overnight. 3 lbs took about 5 pears and yielded a little over 2 pints of jam. I also did the optional processing step since I already had boiling water from sterilizing the jars and lids.
Very tasty. Peeled my pears, put the sugar, lemon juice and I used dried lemon peel. Let it sit over night in my extra refrigerator. Took the out the next morning and sat on the counter about 5 hours. Put in my pot and brought up to a boil. Reduced to a simmer and let them simmer about 15 minutes. Used my immersion blender to blend smooth. Let it continue to cook down about another 15/20 minutes. Boy is it good. My husband said a little will go a long way due to the sweetness.
well from what i can say its pretty tasty, after just licking the utensils..but i didnt peel the pears, just threw them in food processor. just turned of burner…waiting on them to cool and “pop”. cant wait to try
Overnight resting and longer cooking times is what make them come out perfect. Be patient. Anything good is worth waiting for!
Pears have very little pectin. Typically you have to add pectin. For 3 lbs of pears I’d add 6% of the weight of the pears in lemon juice. I’d take the lemons you used for the juice, chop it up and put it in a food grade muslin bag along with the seeds. Let it soak overnight with the pears and sugar. Let it boil about 5 minutes with the pears then pull the pectin bag out of the preserves and let it cool while it’s cooking, pull the jam of the burner. Once you can touch the bag, squeeze and twist it over the pot until the pectin comes out. It will feel slimy and be translucent to opaque. Put the preserves back on the pot and cook to gel point. I like to use the wrinkle test. The lemon should give you enough pectin to give you a gel. I’d also run half the pears through a food mill or mash with a potato masher to give you a thicker consistency. This should be done once the pears have cooked a few minutes to soften them. You could also try a few teaspoons of Ball granulated pectin. It must be mixed with some of the sugar and I add some of the hot liquid to it to so I am sure it dissolves. Score I put it in the pot.
Anyone not peel the pears? Curious how that turned out
I boiled my mixture up to 220 degrees, water processed for 15 minutes, but it didn’t thicken. Any suggestions? It is now a wonderful pear syrup, but I really would like pear jam as well.
Love this
Love, love, love this recipe! Very simple and easy to make. I have made pear jam before, but I had never let them sit. I tell you….this is what gives it the best flavor. I had let them sit about 10 hours and it was perfect! Thank you for the recipe!
I have never had pear jam nor made it, and I didn’t know what to expect. This is outstanding tasting gem! Very very easy to make! I followed the directions without any cinnamon or anything extra, leaving the pears overnight and it turned out better than I ever thought.
yes definitely!
Recipe sound like it could be really good. Is it possible to use bourbon instead of the whiskey you chose?
This is an amazing and simple recipe. We made a plain batch, a batch with a tablespoon of cinnamon, and a batch with Fireball whiskey and they all turned out great. The neighbors are already asking about getting on the list for delivery next year! We used Summercrisp pears and they were delicious.
It probably will not taste as good but it will most likely work.
Can you use canned pears,we do not have fresh pears in nh only store bought
Amazing jam i added one star-anise and Clove
Quick question, what does leaving them overnight do? What would happen if I boiled the pears directly after chopping them up?
Great recipe. I added a tbsp of cinnamon also.