Have you ever heard of Pear Honey?
It's an old-fashioned thing. You might be surprised to hear there's no honey involved. The only time bees were needed for this recipe were to pollinate the pears & pineapple, the two main ingredients in Pear Honey.
Pear Honey is actually new to me. In researching Pear Honey, every recipe I found called for adding one 20 oz. can of pinepple chunks instead of using fresh pineapple. I believe when most people remember Pear Honey from their childhood it was made with canned, but I recommend using fresh. This nectar-like jam has an incredible depth of flavor for something needing only 4 ingredients.
First you'll need to peel, core and chunk the pineapple and the pears, then mix them with the lemon juice....
...then add sugar. That's it.
At this point you should set the mixture aside and let it sit for an hour or so. If you want to make this a 2-step process, you're practically done for the day. Just cover your mixture and stick the whole thing in the fridge overnight. I almost always do this when making preserves. The sugar dissolves quite a bit, creating a lovely syrup. And it's like having one of those magic cooking show kitchens to be able to pull the mixture out of the fridge the next day, all ready for the next step.
I hope this story about a special kind of honey will "bee" the inspiration you need to pick up some fresh pears and make* some memories in your own kitchen. The recipe as shown will make about a dozen 8 oz jars, and I can't think of a sweeter way to make some special people in your life buzz with happiness.
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To ensure success, I want to share a couple pointers with you:
To make your Pear Honey (and any of your other jams or fruit butters) silky-smooth) use an immersion blender. Also called a "stick blender" or a "hand blender". It only takes a few seconds to remove any chunks. Just wait until the fruit is fully-cooked for best results.
To make sure your jam is ready for jars, cook it until it's 220 degrees Farenheit (sea-level). Many people don't own thermometers so I like to include this tip: cook your jam until it sheets off of the spoon. If it just drips, it's not ready yet.
Sheeting looks something like this:
*You can find the complete instructions for making Pear Honey by clicking on the phrase "Pear Honey" at any point in this blog post. I know it might seem obvious to some, but people email all the time asking for a recipe that is already linked in a recipe. Saving those people the email :)
Want to know more about pears?
Check out USA Pears!