The Pear Harvest from the little tree that could

This year, our more than 30 year old pear tree, produced an abundance of Bartlett pears. It was the best pear harvest yet. There were enough pears to share with family and friends, make some amazing desserts, and for the first time I made pear sauce. Also, there were quite a few neighborhood squirrels rustling the leaves in the tree as they chose which pears to eat, and bees buzzing around any pears that fell to the ground.

In late spring our pear tree is in full bloom and by late summer it produces the most wonderful pears. Unfortunately, this year two branches snapped off as it could not support the weight of the pears. As a result, we started picking the pears earlier than usual to avoid any more damage to our treasured pear tree.

When the last of the pears were picked, our pear tree looked bare and tired. There were still a few squirrels climbing up the tree searching for pears to munch, and the bees ready to attack any fallen pears. I had picked between 40-5o pears enough to make pear sauce.

First I washed the pears, and then quartered them and did not remove the skins, the seeds or stems as I was going process the pear sauce through an electric tomato machine, otherwise I would have removed them. I placed them in a large Dutch oven, filled it with 1 cup of water and let the pears cook down until they were soft. I did not add any sugar to the pear sauce as the pears were sweet enough. I did however add cinnamon to half of the jars as it is one of my favourite spices.

Then I processed the pears through the electric tomato machine and them I ladled the pear sauce into sterilized jarsand placed them in a canner for 15 minutes. The pear sauce yielded 12 half pint (8 oz) jars.

I add pear sauce to my yogurt and use it as a substitute for applesauce, bananas, or pumpkin in recipes with great results. I cannot eat the pears right off the tree as I have an allergy to most raw fruits, but I can eat them cooked which is a good thing.

When we moved into our home over thirty years ago, our pear tree was already planted and producing pears. It has survived severe rain and snow storms, even the ice storm in 1998. I treasure our pear tree with its beautiful white blooms in the spring that turn into the beautiful pears that we harvest at the end of summer.

Tree Pear Update – 2018

Sadly, our treasure pear tree got sick and had to chopped down two years ago. One of our daughters lives next door and has a pear tree. That’s where we go for the pear harvest now. I still miss my own pear tree.