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How to Make Homemade Pear Sauce - Home-Canned Pearsauce is Easy with Step-by-step Directions, Photos, Ingredients, Recipe and Costs

Yield: 7 to 9 pint jars

Click here for a PDF print version

Also, see our easy illustrated directions about how to can pears, pear picking tips, make pear or applesauce, pear or apple butter and our list of apple festivals!

Ingredients and Equipment

Yields about 8 or 9 jars, each 8 oz

Recipe and Directions

Step 1 - Selecting the pears

The most important step!  You need pears that are sweet if you want to cut down on the added sugar. Just the sweetest pears you can get!  Some of the common sweet varieties are Bartlett, Bosc, D'Anjou and Asian pears.

Step 2 - How many pears and where to get them

You can pick your own, or buy them at the grocery store.  But for large quantities, you'll find that real farmer's markets, like the State Farmer's Market in Forest Park, Georgia have them at the best prices.  In 2007, they were available from late September at $12 to $20 per bushel.

You'll get about 12 quarts of pear jelly per bushel of pears.

Step 3 -Wash the pears!

I'm sure you can figure out how to wash the pears in plain cold water and remove any stickers or labels on them.

Using a vegetable peeler or a paring knife, peel the pears. You do NOT need to peel, nor remove seeds or stems from the pears, unless you do not have a sieve. The sieves, see step 6, will remove all of these!

Step 4 -Chop the pears!

Chopping them is much faster if you use one of those pear corer/segmenters - you just push it down on an pear and it cuts it into segments. 

Again, if you do not have a sieve, be sure to remove any seeds, hard parts (usually the part around the seeds) and any mush or dark areas.

Step 5 - Cook the Pears

Pretty simple! Put about 1 inch of water (I used either filtered tap water or store brand pear juice) on the bottom of a huge, thick-bottomed pot. Put the lid on, and the heat on high.  When it gets really going, turn it to medium high until the pears are soft through and through.

Step 6 - Sieve the cooked pears

There are several ways to squish the pears through a sieve,  either through a :

• hand-cranked Foley food mill (about $20 see this page ). Obviously, you have to crank it by hand, which is ok if you have child labor and aren't making a lot.  If you are only making a dozen or two jars or don't have other uses for a KitchenAid, then this is a practical alternative - or
• A Villaware, Roma or Oxo strainer (about $60, see further down the page) or
• through a KitchenAid sieve/grinder (with the attachments, about $300, but it lasts a lifetime and is fast and easy to use - I can make 100 quart jars per day with one of these).
• To see a greater variety of strainers in other types, sizes, and prices, click here!

 I found a pretty good deal (about half price) on remanufactured KitchenAid's with a 1 year warranty - see the links above.

You CAN also use a simple metal sieve, but it will be VERY tedious, hard work - if you plan on making pearsauce every year,  spring for the 25 bucks for the foodmill. 

Basically, you put the cooked pears (including the skins, seeds, cores and stems) into the top hopper, and use the wooden plunger to push it in.

NOTE for those on a VERY tight budget or making just a small batch of pearsauce

You CAN make pearsauce without a food processor or a $25 foodmill, but it's much more work, and really only suitable for making a quart or two of pearsauce at a time... but it can be done - Click here for the directions on making pear or applesauce with NO special equipment

The device pushes it against a sieve and the pearsauce comes out underneath (in the chrome pot in the photo at left ), and the debris shoots out the side into the sink - see photo below.

There is also a VERY nice, versatile strainer pictured at below, far right!  Click on the links there or see the bottom of this page for more information and to order! The VillaWare model can handle higher volumes than a Foley food mill (without giving you cramps!)

To see a greater variety of strainers in other types, sizes, and prices, click here!

Step 7 - Season and keep the pear sauce hot

Put the pearsauce into a large pot. Add cinnamon to taste.  You should not need to add any sugar.  

The pear sauce does not need any further cooking; just keep it hot until you get enough made to fill the jars you will put into the canner (Canners hold seven jars at once, whether they are quart or pint size)

Step 8 - Fill the jars and process them in the water bath

Fill them to within ¼-inch of the top, wipe any spilled pear sauce of the top, seat the lid and gently tighten the ring around them.  Put them in the canner and keep them covered with at least 1 inch of water.  Get the canner back to a full boil and begin timing. If you are at sea level (up to 1,000 ft) boil pint jars for 15 minutes and quart jars for 20 min. If you are at an altitude of 1,000 feet or more, see the chart below

.

Step 9 - Remove and cool the jars - 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, but if you leave them on, at least loosen them quite a bit, so they don't rust in place due to trapped moisture. 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 
           helpful to pick up hot jars
2. Lid lifter 
           - to remove lids from the pot 
           of hot water 
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

* All the tools you need for hot waterbath canning - in one comprehensive set! * Complete with 21 1/2 qt. enameled waterbath canner and "Ball Blue Book" of canning. * Also includes canning rack, funnel, jar lifter, jar wrencher, bubble freer, tongs and lid lifter. * A Kitchen Krafts exclusive collection. Average Customer Review: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Home Canning Kits Features: Everything you need to get started with waterbath canning (fruits,pickles, jams, jellies, salsa, sauces and tomatoes) 21-1/2 qt. enamel water bath canner Funnel, jar lifter, lid lifter, bubble freer spatula Ball Blue Book This is the same type of  standard canner that my grandmother used to make everything from pear jelly to jams and jellies to tomato and spaghetti sauce. This complete kit includes everything you need: 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. You'll never need anything else except more jars and lids! Features:

Deluxe Food Strainer & Sauce Maker D220-DLXRetail: $89.95Our price: $69.00 Availability: Usually ships the next business day. See this page for more information, reviews, descriptions of other strainers and supplies or to order! With the Deluxe Food Strainer/Sauce Maker, you can make creamy pear sauce and smooth tomato sauce without having to peel and core! This multi-use strainer forces food through a stainless steel screen, automatically separating the juice and pulp from the seeds, shins, and stems. Perfect for purees, creamed soups, baby foods, pie filling, juices, jams, and more. Save time, effort, and money by preparing your own tasty sauces to be used immediately or boiled for future use. Do bushels with ease and in a fraction of the time. Includes the tomato/apple screen with easy twist on design and instruction/recipe booklet. The Deluxe model comes with the standard Tomato/Pear Screen; as well as the Berry Screen, Pumpkin Screen, and Grape Spiral. Note

Mirro Stainless Steel Foley Food Mill 3 1/2Qt size. Features: Heavy tin-plated steel Makes pear jelly Rice potatoes Has supports for resting on top of bowl or pot

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

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