Pear Butter with Papa’s Pears

As a little girl, I loved going to visit my Papa. His house and the land around it were always an adventure for me. I knew as soon as I jumped out of the car, we could adventure and wander anywhere we wanted. Now don’t go getting the wrong idea, I’ve always loved an adventure because adventures = memories. But, I’m still a little skittish at heart. Adventure for me does not mean dangerous, I just love creativity and using my imagination and that’s what you could always do in Papa’s backyard.

I was recently at my Papa’s old place and saw the big tree in his backyard full of pears. Thankfully for me, my tall man was there so I didn’t have to get them all by myself. I was curious if we could find a ladder, but that just meant we had to leave some of the fruit on the tree, out of reach.

Growing up, the pears would fall to the ground and bugs would get to them before we could do anything. The pears never really ripened, but, as I mentioned before, my Papa had a green thumb and grew all kinds of things including peaches, watermelon, tomatoes, peas, cantaloupe, peppers. His back yard had peach/nectarine trees that he grafted from other plants to change up the species that was growing. There was a giant pecan tree, a Japanese persimmon tree, and this pear tree that grew next to each other, and his fences were covered with wild scuppernong (grape) vines. 

As I gathered these pears in my shirt, I thought about my Papa. I remember his heart for others and how he grew most of his fruit and vegetables to give them away. His garden gave him something to do, something to nurture and care for and something to share with others. 

I brought my crate of pears home with the intent of making some pear butter, after my recent success with apple butter. I wanted to use some of the natural flavors, but I knew these pears would always be hard and by not ripening, they really didn’t get sweet. So, a slow roast in the crockpot was the perfect kind of sauna experience for them.

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This pear butter is perfect on a simple piece of toast or a homemade biscuit. And, if you need tips on canning, make sure to check out my list of Essential Canning Tools.

And, if you need another recipe to make with pears, check out Paula’s Pear Crisp. It comes highly recommended (wink, wink)!

And, if you like this kind of thing, check out my WW Friendly Slow Cooker Apple Butter as well.