How To Make Pear Butter The Easy Way In Your Slow Cooker
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Pear butter is one of my favourite spreads! I think it’s really easy to make to, especially if you use your slow cooker to do most of the work. It’s great on toast, pancakes, muffins or over ice cream and makes a wonderful gift! Earlier this fall we took the kids to a local pick your own farm and had fun picking apples and pears. So I knew that I would want to make some pear butter to enjoy this winter.
Ingredients & Supplies
1/2 a bushel of pears to make 7 quarts of pear sauce
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbs. lemon juice
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup of sugar or to taste
large stock pot
food mill or stick blender or hand mixer
jar grabbers
jar funnel
Crock pot/slow cooker
large spoons & ladle
1 water bath canner
canning jars & lids
To make pear butter you need to start by making a pear sauce. This is the same way you can make apple sauce.
You can either peal and core the pears first or if your going to process the cooked pears through a food mill you can skip that step. Just wash the pears and cut them into quarters.
Cover the pears with water and cook until they are tender.
Process the pears through a food mill to remove the skins, seeds and stems.
Pour your pear puree into your crock pot. I have a large crock pot and this fills mine right to the top!
Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, vanilla extract and sugar. I tasted my pear sauce before adding the sugar and found it was very, very sweet. So I only added 1 cup of sugar to help with the flavour. If your pear sauce isn’t as sweet as you like then add more sugar, up to 6 cups.
If your crock pot doesn’t have enough room to hold that much sugar right now, you can add it after the sauce has cooked down some.
Yes in this pic I didn’t have the lid sitting ajar yet! Don’t forget to do that or your sauce will not reduce.
Cover the crock pot but leave the lid ajar to let it evaporate. You can tilt your lid or lay 2 wooden spoons across the top and set your lid on that.
Turn the crock pot on low or medium heat. If after 12 hours the sauce isn’t cooking down enough you can turn it up to high. Just keep an eye on it using the high setting you don’t want to burn your sauce.
Depending on how hot your crock pot cooks it can take 8 to 12 hours to cook down to a nice thick spread. I like to make mine up in the evening and let it cook overnight, it’s normally done by the next afternoon. Just cook it until it’s the consistency that you like.
Taste your pear butter if you’re not happy with the tastes then adjust the sugar & spices as needed.
If your butter has gotten to thick you can add a little pear juice to thin it out.
If your freezing your pear butter, let it cool then ladle into containers and freeze. Make sure to leave an inch of head space for it to expand!
If your going to can your pear butter ladle it into half pint or pint jars, leaving 1/4″ head space.
Run a spatula around the inside edge of your jars to remove any air bubbles.
Wipe the rims of the jars clean, place lids on the jars and tighten the rings finger tight.
Place jars into a water bath canner and process.
When the time is up remove the jars from the canner and place them on a towel. Let them cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours. Then check the seals, any jars that have not sealed should be reprocessed in the canner or placed in the fridge. Remove the jar rings and wipe the jars clean, label and store in a cool dark place.
Slow Cooker Pear Butter
Ingredients
- 1/2 bushel of pears or 7 quarts of pear sauce
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
- 1 tbs. lemon juice
- 1 to 6 cups of sugar (to taste)
Instructions
- If your starting with fresh pears you need to peel and core the pears before cooking. If you are using a food mill then you can skip that step. Wash the pears and cut into quarters.
- Cover pears with water and boil gently until tender.
- Process the pears through a food mill to remove the seeds, skins and stems. If you are not using a food mill and have already peeled your pears before starting blend them with a stick blender or hand mixer.
- Pour your pear sauce into your slow cooker. Then add the vanilla extract, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar. If your pears are very sweet you will need less sugar. I use 1 cup but adjust to taste up to 6 cups.
- Cover your slow cooker leaving the lid ajar to let the steam out. Cook on low or medium for 8 to 12 hours or until reduced to your liking.
- If freezing allow the pear butter to cool and ladle into containers, leaving 1 inch of head space for expansion in the freezer.
- If canning ladle your hot pear butter into sterilized jars leaving 1/4 inch of head room.
- Run a spatula around the inside edge of the jar to release air bubbles.
- Wipe the jar rims clean and place lids on finger tight.
- Process in a water bath canner for 5 minutes or according to your altitude.
- Remove jars from the canner and place on a towel. Allow to sit undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours then check the seals. Any jars that have not sealed can be reprocessed in the canner or placed in the fridge. Remove the lids from the sealed jars and wipe the cars clean, label and store in a cool, dry, dark place.
Prep Time: 00 hrs. 30 minutes.
Cook time: 12 hrs. 00 minutes.
Total time: 12 hrs. 30 minutes.
Tags: pear butter, canning
Process Time at Altitudes of
| Style of Pack | Jar Size | 0 – 1000 ft | 1001 – 6000 ft | above 6000 ft |
| Hot pack | half pints & pints | 5 min | 10 min | 15 min |
| quarts | 10 min | 15 min | 20 min |
Supplies on Amazon
Supplies on Amazon Canada
