Syrup Packed Pears

I love it when people give me food. Almost everyone knows that I like to cook, so many of my friends and family bring me harvested goodies from their gardens and orchards. Just this year I've received pecans, apples, squash, peppers, blackberries, peanuts, peaches and most recently pears. These pears arrived on Thanksgiving along with my Daddy. They were, let's just say, ripe. My Mama picked up an overflowing bag from the porch and set them immediately back down. "Are you sure these are still good?" she asks. "They may be a little too far gone," Daddy says. Nah. I salvaged 3 ½ quarts of luscious perfectly ripe pears from 2 bulging Wal-Mart bags.

My first thought was to make pear honey but, alas, I only had 2 pint jars. It being Black Friday I was not about to set foot in a store so I opted to freeze them for a later use. I've been throwing around the idea of a mincemeat pear cobbler. That aside, here's how to syrup pack pears. If you are interested in preparing other foods check out The National Center for Home Food Preservation. It's pretty comprehensive and I've always had good results.

First, you'll need to make a 40% syrup, which is also called heavy syrup.
You'll need 2 ¾ c. sugar for every 4 c. water. This yields roughly 5 1/3 c. syrup. It's recommended that you use ½ - 2/3 c. syrup for every pint fruit but you'll also need some for boiling. (I made 4 batches, ~21 c., for 3 ½ qt pears, which was WAY more than I needed. 2 batches would have been plenty.)

1. Wash, peel and core fruit. Slice medium pears into twelfths, large ones into sixteenths.
2. Combine the sugar and water in a medium to large pot. Bring to a boil.
3. Heat pears in boiling syrup for 1 to 2 minutes, depending on size of pieces.
   
4. Drain and cool.
5. Pack pears and cover with cold syrup. Leave head space.
6. Seal and freeze.