Pear Preserves

I sampled a pear preserves at my friend's house and really liked it.  Since Bartlett pear is in season now, I would love to make it myself.  I did a search on the web and found some recipes at cooks.com.  It gave me a general idea of how it was made.  What I liked best about this preserves is no pectin required.  For my recipe, I used less sugar (as I found the American version was too sweet), added some ground cinnamon and made it in my bread maker.  Direction for stove top is provided as well for those who don't own a bread maker.

Both my girls loved it.  We spread it on crackers and toasted bagels.  Yummy!  I even used it to make cake.  The recipe for Pear Preserves Cake will be coming up soon!

Juices came out when left overnight, ready for the bread maker.

Ingredients:

• 5 Bartlett Pears, peeled, cored and sliced thinly
• 3/4 cup to 1 cup of white sugar
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Jam preserves done by the bread maker.  This was the result of the 2nd cycle.

Method:

1.  In a glass container, add in pears, sugar, lemon juice and ground cinnamon.  Stir to mix well.  Covered and let it sit overnight in a refrigerator.  

2.  On the next day, pour it into a bread maker with jam function and turned it on.  I did it twice (ran two times).  Store into a glass bottle and put into the refrigerator.  It will thicken some more while in the fridge.

3.  If you don't have a bread maker, you just pour 1 into a pot and simmer on stove top until the juice has thicken (like honey consistency), about 2 hours.

4.  Yield about a full jar (I used a large jar so it only shown half).  Refrigerate for up to 2-3 months.  Or place in a freezer bag and freeze indefinitely. 

Edited to add, I found that you need more sugar for the breadmaker to work.  So I edited the recipe to list 3/4-1 cup of sugar.