How to Make Homemade Pear Butter - Easily!

You think making and canning your own pear butter is difficult?  Well, it used to be!  Until crock pots and slow cookers came along!

Now, it's easy!  Here's how to do it, complete instructions in easy steps and completely illustrated. The pear butter will taste MUCH better than anything you've ever had from a store.

Prepared this way, the jars have a shelf life of 18 months to 2 years, and require no special attention. A side benefit is that your house will smell wonderful while it is cooking - much better than potpourri!

Directions for Making Pear Butter

Yields about 9 - 10 pints

Ingredients and Equipment

• 8 quarts of pearsauce (See step 1)
• 1.5 teaspoons nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon Allspice
• 2 teaspoons grated orange peel (just the surface, not the spongy white part) or 1 teaspoon orange extract
• 1 cup orange juice
• 6 cups sugar
• Jar grabber (to pick up the hot jars)
• Lid lifter (has a magnet to pick the lids out of the boiling water where you sanitize them. ($2 at Target, other big box stores, and often grocery stores; and available online - see this page)
• Jar funnel ($2 at Target, other big box stores, and often grocery stores; and available online - see this page)
• 1 Crock pot (slow cooker)
• Large spoons and ladles
• 1 Canner (a huge pot to sanitize the jars of pear butter after filling (about $30 to $35 at mall kitchen stores, sometimes at big box stores and grocery stores.))
• Ball jars (Grocery stores, like Publix, Kroger, Safeway carry them, as do some big box stores - about $8 per dozen quart jars including the lids and rings)

Pear Butter Recipe and Directions

Step 1 - Make unsweetened pear sauce!

That's right, pear butter, like apple butter, starts with pearsauce!  You can use store bought pearsauce (if you can find it), but the pear butter won't taste nearly as good.  So if you haven't made some pearsauce yet, start here with how to make applesauce. (You make it exactly like making applesauce) . Otherwise continue to step 2.

Step 2 - Fill the crock pot

Fill the crock pot to within an inch of full with pearsauce, mine takes about 5.5 quarts. Now, you CAN do this using a regular large pot on very low heat on the stove, but the crockpot works much better, because its heat is very low. I've never had a batch burn in the crockpot.

Step 3 -Add the spices

Add:

• 1.5 teaspoons nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon Allspice
• 2 teaspoons grated orange peel (just the surface, not the spongy white part) or 1 teaspoon orange extract
• 1 cup orange juice
• 6 cups sugar

Step 4 - Cook the Pear butter

Set the crock pot on low or medium heat. 

Cover it loosely or use a large pot splatter-guard. It will spatter as it boils slowly, so I also cover nearby surfaces with towels.  You don't want to seal it tightly because you want the steam to escape so it can reduce in volume and thicken.

A visitor suggests, take a couple of butter knives, and lay them across the top of the crock pot. They are parallel and located about 2/3 of the way out from the center. Then put the lid on these supports, leaving it "covering" the pot and keeping the splatters under control, but, leaving a good gap for steam to escape.

Leave it to cook for 6 - 12 hours.   How long depends on the size and power of your crockpot, and how thick you like it, If you want to stir it occasionally, that's fine but not necessary.  I let mine go overnight.

It will reduce in volume by about half overnight. As it cooks down (the next morning), add the remaining pearsauce (about 2 or 3 quarts) and 2 more cups of sugar. Then let it cook a couple of hours more to mix the flavors.

Step 5 - Wash the jars and lids

Now's a good time to get the jars ready, so you won't be rushed later. The dishwasher is fine for the jars; especially if it has a "sanitize" cycle, the water bath processing will sanitize them as well as the contents! If you don't have a dishwasher with a sanitize cycle, you can wash the containers in hot, soapy water and rinse, then sanitize the jars by boiling them 10 minutes, and keep the jars in hot water until they are used.

Leave the jars in the dishwasher on "heated dry" until you are ready to use them. Keeping them hot will prevent the jars from breaking when you fill them with the hot pear butter.

Put the lids into a pan of hot, but not quite boiling water (that's what the manufacturer's recommend) for 5 minutes, and use the magnetic "lid lifter wand" to pull them out.

Step 6 - Blend the pear butter (optional)

You want a smooth, creamy texture, right? The easiest way is to use a hand-held drink blender. It does a great job of making it smooth.  You can also put it into a regular blender, but if you are going to do that, you might want to blend the pear sauce before you put it in the crock pot (it will be much thicker afterwards and won't move in a regular blender). Another visitor says running it through a food mill with a fine screen or through a sieve works, too.

Tips:

• Too thick?  if the pear butter cooks down too much or is too thick for your liking, just add a little bit of pear juice and blend it in.
• Not thick enough? Just let it cook some more, with the lid off so the steam can escape!

Step 7 - Fill the jars

Fill them to within ¼-inch of the top, wipe any spilled pear butter of the top, seat the lid and tighten the ring around them.  Put them in the canner and keep them cover with at least 1 inch of water and boiling. if you are at sea level (up to 1,000 ft) boil pint jars for 5 minutes and quart jars for 10 min. If you are at an altitude of 1,000 feet or more, see the chart at the bottom of this page.

Step 8 - Done

Lift the jars out of the water and let them cool without touching or bumping them in a draft-free place (usually takes overnight)  You can then remove the rings if you like. Once the jars are cool, you can check that they are sealed verifying that the lid has been sucked down. Just press in the center, gently, with your finger. If it pops up and down (often making a popping sound), it is not sealed. If you put the jar in the refrigerator right away, you can still use it. Some people replace the lid and reprocess the jar, then that's a bit iffy. If you heat the contents back up, re-jar them (with a new lid) and the full time in the canner, it's usually ok.

Other Equipment:

From left to right:

1. Jar lifting tongs 
           to pick up hot jars
2. Lid lifter 
           - to remove lids from the pot 
           of boiling water (sterilizing )
3. Lid 
          - disposable - you may only 
          use them once
4. Ring 
         - holds the lids on the jar until after
         the jars cool - then you don't need them
5. Canning jar funnel
         - to fill the jars

Frequently Asked Questions and Tips About Making Pear Butter

Q. I would like to make some pear butter with your recipe but I don't want to make a bushels worth. Is there any way you can break down the measurements for me for a smaller amount? I'd like to make a half dozen or so smaller jars worth. Thanks."

A. If you want to make 6 eight-ounce jars, here are the measures to use:

• 3 quarts of pearsauce (See step 1)
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• sprinkle of cloves
• sprinkle of allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel (just the surface, not the spongy white part) or 1/3 teaspoon orange extract
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 2 cups sugar

Home Canning Kits This is the same type of  standard canner that my grandmother used to make everything from pearsauce to jams and jellies to tomato and spaghetti sauce. This complete kit includes everything you need and lasts for years: the canner, jar rack, jar grabber tongs, lid lifting wand, a plastic funnel, labels, bubble freer, and the bible of canning, the Ball Blue Book. It's much cheaper than buying the items separately. You'll never need anything else except jars and lids (and the jars are reusable). To see more canners, of different styles, makes and prices, click here! Average Customer Review: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Can't find the equipment?  We ship to all 50 states!

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