Pares? Pairs? .... ohhh, PEARS!

This has been a GREAT year for pears in our neck of the woods! I've been busy making pear preserves, pear jelly, juicing pears, canning pears, and still have 3 pear trees to pick!  Today, I made a pear jam. It's the first time I've tried them this way, and I think we have found another winner!

Pear Jam
8 cups pears (peeled, cored, and chopped)
4 cups sugar
2 vanilla beans (cut in half lengthwise and scraped of their goodness)

Put all the ingredients, including the vanilla pods and the scraped part, into a heavy, stainless steel stock pot. On medium low heat, cook until the pears soften.

Remove the vanilla pods and mash the pears until they are smooth in texture. I used an immersion blender. You could probably use a potato masher, or run them through a food processor.

Increase the temperature to medium to medium-high and cook until they reach the consistency of jam. Be careful as the mixture does splatter when cooking. Put the jam into your sterilized jars, wipe the rims, cap with two piece caps, and water bath for 10 minutes. Remove from the canner and place on a dry towel...wait for that wonderful "ping, ping" sound. This made 5.5 half pints of jam.

Although vanilla beans are expensive and I usually don't buy them, they are wonderful in this recipe.

...and I have no idea why these pictures all uploaded as different sizes!