3 Winks Design
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
  • Printables
  • From Cover to Reel
    • Contests >
      • Writing Challenge
    • Show Notes
  • Where I Party
    • Places Featured
  • Archives

Hot or Raw pack Canning? Plus Fabulous Spiced Pears!

10/2/2020

1 Comment

 
​This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.
 spiced pears
    I was able to get a good deal on some boxes of peaches and pears from Utah!  So, this past week Lindsey, Maddy, my friend Betty and I did some canning at Lindsey's house.  We did the peaches on one day and the pears 2 days later.  We caught them both at their optimum ripeness!
    I've already shared with you how to can peaches on this post.  But, I want to share a couple of new things we did this time around. I've been canning for a long time, but this dog can always learn new tricks!  
    Every year, when I start to can something, I always refer to the National Center for Home Food Preparation, or NCHFP, to find out if there have been any changes or new developments in canning safety.  Sure enough, this time there were some changes that I want to make you aware of before giving you my recipe for delicious Spiced Pears! 

First of all, they have found that white fleshed peaches are not safe to can!  White fleshed peaches are not acidic enough for water bath canning nor is there a method for pressure canning them.  The best way to preserve them is to freeze them!  Luckily our peaches were yellow! 

Secondly, and I don't know if I just overlooked this before, but the site mentions that Hot packing peaches and pears will give you a better product than raw packing them... Now that one was a shocker to me because my raw packed peaches have always been delicious! 
    From what I learned upon researching that assertion, the problem they have found is that the fruit shrinks during the processing in the water bath.  This causes them to rise up tightly in the jar leaving a lot of liquid at the bottom.  Then, when the fruit falls, the liquid may not cover all of the fruit and the part of the fruit not covered can turn brown, although it is still safe to eat. Hmmm...
     So, we decided to test out this idea when we canned our peaches.  
    
Hot Pack Process
   The Hot Pack process involves making your light syrup as usual but then adding the fruit to it and allowing it to come to a boil all together before adding the fruit and liquid to the jars.  Then, leaving a 1/2 to 1 inch headspace and removing the bubbles, add the lids and process as usual. 
    To test this out, we did our sliced peaches the hot pack way.  But, we noticed that there still was lift as the jars were sealed, but maybe not quite as much because we were able to fit more peaches into a jar.  Then, I did some quarts of peach halves and then made sure that I really packed them in.  Also, I carefully measured the headspace, removed the bubbles and added more boiling syrup as needed.  By being more precise, I didn't notice a big difference in the amount of lift in my raw pack jars to my hot pack jars.  So, frankly, I am probably going to stick with my raw pack method because it is easier, but be more careful to pack tightly, measure headspace carefully and to get those bubbles out.  
spiced pears
Now Let's Talk About Canning Pears! 
    The process of canning pears is a bit simpler than peaches because you don't have to blanch them first to get the skins off.  You can simply peel them with a potato peeler!  It was so great having many hands doing the work together because one of us peeled, one of us sliced and cored and one of us filled the jars and kept an eye on the syrup and everything else!  (We had 3 people working each day as Betty and Maddy came one day each!)
   
After our experience with hot packing the peaches, we decided to stick with raw packing the pears.  As you can see in the picture above, there wasn't a lot of lift after the jars were processed.  I made sure to :
  • Pack the jars as tightly as possible.  We did slices and halves.  When you do halves, put the cut side down. 
  • Make sure the syrup is boiling hot.  Then, carefully ladle it over the pears, using a wide canning funnel.  
  • Use a knife or chopstick to ease down between the fruit and the jar to allow bubbles to escape.  Do this all around the jar.  Add more liquid as needed to reach 1/2" headspace.
  • Wipe the rim of the jar and add the lid and ring.
  • Place in the canner.  When the water boils, process according to your altitude. Check the NCHFP for a chart.
  • Lift the jars from the canner and remove them to a towel covered surface.  Listen for the seals to pop!   
spiced pears
Spiced Pears!
    While I was doing research about the hot pack, raw pack thing, I kept seeing ways to add other ingredients to your peaches and pears when you can them.  One thing I saw was cinnamon sticks and whole cloves in the pear jars and I thought that they looked pretty!  I decided to try it with a few of our jars just to see how they turned out. 
spiced pears
We took this photo right after the jars were out of the canner. Don't worry, they all sealed a few minutes later. I just wanted to show you the cinnamon stick and whole cloves in the jars.
  1. We used a light syrup made at a 1:3 ratio.  There was 1 cup of sugar to 3 cups of water.  So, If I used 12 cups of water, I mixed in 4 cups of sugar.
  2. Boil the syrup and keep it at a low boil until you add it to the jars.
  3. While you are packing the jars with pears, add 1 stick of cinnamon and 5-6 whole cloves, scattered throughout the jar. 
  4. Fill with the syrup and process as usual.
    Honestly, I was just guessing on the amount of spice to add to the jar.  I didn't add any additional spices to the syrup.  I was concerned that the spice taste wouldn't come through.  But, I was wrong!  These pears are so delicious! They taste just like Fall and I wish that I had done all of the jars like this!  ​I am tempted to buy more pears just to be able to can more spiced ones! These are the type of things that make canning so enjoyable! 
spiced pears
What a simple change and now these are my favorite canned fruit of all time I think.   I know you will love them too! 
Check out these other canning recipes and tips:
zucchini relish
When Life Gives You Zucchini, Make Relish!
Blackberry Lemon Marmalade
Blackberry Lemon Marmalade
Canning Apples
Canning Apples 2 Ways!
Crock Pot Apple Butter
Crock-Pot Apple Butter
1 Comment
Miz Helen link
10/13/2020 11:56:44 am

Thanks so much for sharing your awesome post with us at Full Plate Thursday,505. Hope you are having a great week and come back soon!
Miz Helen

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs!  (copyrighted)
    Subscribe to Our Email!
    Picture

    Author

    Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to fifteen!  I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born.  Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out!  Read more about us here!
        

    Picture
    Click this link and visit 3WinksDesignShop on Etsy. Find our Hot Cocoa Bomb Idea Book, our For the Love of PIe e-book and more of our creations!

    Picture
    Shop Mood Fabrics




    RSS Feed

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
  • Printables
  • From Cover to Reel
    • Contests >
      • Writing Challenge
    • Show Notes
  • Where I Party
    • Places Featured
  • Archives