Description
Make your toast happy: make easy pear butter in the slow cooker! Sweet pears and spices cook down together for spreadable fruit. Pear Butter is also delicious on oatmeal, yogurt or ice cream.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds pears – see note below
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar or honey
- 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger (optional) – see note below
- 2 small pieces of lime or lemon peel – about 1-in square (optional)
Instructions
Spray slow cooker lightly with cooking spray.
Do not peel the pears (peels add flavor and nutrition!) Cut into 3/4-inch to 1-inch chunks. Add to slow cooker along with 1/2-cup water, lime juice, brown sugar, ginger and lime peel.
Turn slow cooker on to HIGH and cook for 3-4 hours, stirring once every hour. Cook until pears are soft (time to reach soft texture will depend on the ripeness of your pears).
When soft, remove pears from liquid with a slotted spoon and place in a blender (or a bowl and use a stick/immersion blender). Puree until smooth. If the texture is just a bit too runny, cook on the stove to evaporate some liquid. (I did not have to do this, and my pear butter was still spreadable.)
Notes
You can use a mix of pear varieties. I used Bartlett, Anjou and Asian pears.
You could also use these spices: 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon cardamom, or 1-2 teaspoons cinnamon.
Pear butter freezes beautifully in glass jars – leave 1-inch headspace for pear butter to expand when freezing. Or freeze in zip-top plastic bags.
This recipe can be canned, but if canning, use bottled lemon juice as it has a standard acidity. Fresh lemons vary in acidity. If canning, I would double the recipe, as 3 half-pints isn’t worth the work to can! Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.