Fall Fest: Spiced Pear Butter

The Fall Fest theme this week is “mad stash” or what we’re freezing, canning, dehydrating or otherwise stashing away for the winter.  Since I don’t have a garden this year and I haven’t even been to the Farmer’s Market for a few weeks, I don’t really have much to put away for the winter.  But I did get a little carried away buying organic pears last week and yesterday found myself with a few pounds of fruit that needed to be used up way faster than I would be able to eat them.  In keeping with this week’s theme, I decided to cook them down into a pear butter and stash it away in jars.  Well, my few pounds of pears cooked down so much that I ended up with only a pint of pear butter.  I don’t think my stash will last through the end of the month, much less the entire winter!

This pear butter is delicious!

Spiced Pear Butter

2 1/2 pounds pears, peeled, cored, and chopped
juice of 1 lemon
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 cups sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 green cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick

In a large pot, combine pears, lemon juice, and white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc).  Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for about 25 minutes or until pears are tender.  Puree pears and liquid in a food processor or blender.  Return puree to the pot and stir in the sugar, vanilla bean, and whole spices.  Cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until thick enough to mound on a spoon, 45 – 60 minutes.  Pick out the cinnamon stick, vanilla bean, and spices then ladle the hot butter into sterilized jars.  At this point, you can store the pear butter in the refrigerator for up to a month or you can process the jars in a water bath for longer shelf storage.  Since I only ended up with two half-pint jars, I didn’t bother to process them in the water bath – they’ll be gone quick!

Yield: 1 -1 1/2 pints pear butter.

More Pear Butter Recipes:

• Pear Butter from Simply Recipes
• Low Sugar Pear Butter from Farmgirl Fare
• Pear Butter from Hedonia
• Spiced Pear Butter from Baking Bites

How You Can Join Fall Fest 2010

Welcome to Fall Fest! Have a recipe or tip that fits any of our weekly themes? You can contribute to our online recipe swap in various ways, big or small.

Contribute a whole post, or a comment—whatever you wish. It’s meant to be fun, viral, fluid. No pressure, just delicious. Simply leave your tip or recipe or favorite links in the comments below a Fall Fest post on my blog, and then go visit my collaborators and do the same.

The cross-blog event idea works best when you leave your recipe or favorite links (whether to your own blog or someone else’s) at all the host blogs. Yes, copy and paste them everywhere! That way, they are likely to be seen by the widest audience. Everyone benefits, and some pretty great dialog starts simmering.

Or think bigger: Publish entire posts of your own, if you wish, and grab the Fall Fest 2010 pumpkin badge (illustrated by Matt of Matt Bites).

Summer/Fall Fest 2010 Posting Schedule

7/28: Cukes and Zukes
8/4: Corn
8/11: Herbs, Greens, and Beans
8/18: Stone Fruit – I missed this one!
8/25: Tomatoes
9/1: Sweet and Spicy Peppers
9/8: Garlic
9/15: White (or colorful “white”…but not sweet) Potatoes
9/22: Spinach
9/29: Apples
10/6: Fall Salads
10/13: Pumpkin + Winter Squash – I missed this one!
10/20: Pears
10/27: “Mad Stash” (as in what you’re shoving in freezer/jars/dehydrator, etc.)
11/3: Root veggies
11/10: Brassicas: incl. Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, Cabbage or other
11/17: Sweet Potatoes
11/24: Bounty to Be Grateful For

The Rest of the Fall Fest Gang:

• Alison at Food2: Break Out the Stash
• Kirsten at Food Network: Roasting Pumpkin Seeds
• Liz at Healthy Eats: Mad Squash Stash
• Michelle at Cooking Channel: Save Em’ While You Can
• Caroline at The Wright Recipes: Brandied Apple Butter
• Cate at Sweetnicks: Arugula with Roasted Butternut Squash, Bleu Cheese and Apple Cider Vinaigrette
• Alana at Eating From the Ground Up: Chest Freezers and Why They’re Fabulous
• Margaret at A Way to Garden: Everything Into the Pot, Freezer, Cellar
• Caron at San Diego Foodstuff: Single Woman’s Refrigerator Sauce
• Todd and Diane at White on Rice Couple: Persimmons