Pear with Honey and Vanilla

Smooth Pear Jam with Honey and Vanilla

Ingredients

• 2.5 pounds ripe bartlett pears, peeled, cored and chunked
• 2 heaping cups (1 pound) granulated sugar
• 1 cup honey
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 vanilla bean, split
• Optional 1/2 tsp cardamom powder

Instructions

1. As you peel and prepare the pears, toss them in a bowl with juice of 1/2 lemon to prevent browning. Once they’re all cut up, heat them with the lemon juice in a pot over low flame and simmer for 10 minutes until quite soft.
2. Puree the pears by passing them through a food mill.
3. Return puree to the pot and add sugar, honey and vanilla. Bring to a boil and reduce for about 10 minutes until thickened.
4. The preserve will be ready when it sheets off the back of a cold spoon, or when a drop of it mounds on a cold plate. In the pot it will have the consistency of apple sauce. At this point, squeeze in the juice of the other lemon half, stir and return to a boil for 1 minute. Remove vanilla bean, ladle into half-pint jars and seal. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Yield

2.5 pounds of fruit yielded 1.5 pints

• 1 x 8 oz
• 4 x 4 oz