Canning Pears

We are overrun with pears this year and they are so sweet. I am trying to get ahead of things and start canning them early. The awesome thing about pears they don’t start to get soft until after they are picked. I have some great helpers to help me pick. It took them no time to knock about 30lbs out of the tree. I’m sure the temperature outside (3billion degrees ferenheit ) had nothing to do with their desire to hurry.

After the pears were picked and some were snacked on I had to tackle the worst part. ..cutting up the pears. I cut and soaked the cut pieces in lemon juice and water. About 1tsp of lemon to 4quarts of water. This just keeps the pears from turning brown. I am a peels on, kind of gal. (Maybe I’m lazy, or lack extra time)

When my 5 quart bowl was full I transferred the pear chunks to the InstantPot(this is the one I have). To the InstantPot I added 3 quarts of water, 5 cups of sugar, and 1 Tablespoon of vanilla. I set the InstantPot to “saute” to begin warming the water while I stirred everything to dissolve the sugar. Once the sugar was pretty well incorporated I put the lid on the InstantPot, closed the steam release valve, and set the InstantPot to “manual” for 2 minutes.

The InstantPot took probably 5 minutes to come up to pressure. While it was coming up to pressure I submerged my quart jarts into a pot of water and began to heat the water. My canning/stock pot is an 8 quart volume stock pot. I put the trivet from my InstantPot into the bottom so the jars aren’t sitting on the bottom of the pot. My pot will only hold 4 quart jars. You will want to heat your jars before putting the hot pears and syrup into the jars. This will prevent the jars from breaking.

When the InstantPot is done release the pressure with the quick release valve. Once the pressure is released (it took almost 5 minutes to completely release pressure) remove one jar from the stock pot of hot water, pour the water out of the jar and immediately fill the jar with pears and syrup. Make sure you leave a 1/2 inch of head room in the top of the jar. Top with a new lid and ring and gently set back into the pot of hot water. Repeat the same process with the other 3 jars. Top the stock pot off to make sure you have at lease 2″ of water over the top of the jars. Bring the water in the stock pot with the jars of pears to a boil. Boil for 25 minutes. This process of boiling with remove any air from the jar and sterilize anything that is inside the jar. When the time is up remove the jars from the water and set in location that they wont be disturbed for 24 hours. The undisturbed 24 hour period will make sure the seal is set. If you have a jar that doesn’t set and the seal pops up you can put it in the refrigerator and eat it up.

**This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive compensations for my referral, endorsement, or review of a product or link to a product. This does not cost you anything or change your price. Thank you! I am truly grateful!