I have officially forged into an area I feared to go... well, on my own anyway. I did canning.
A few years ago, my mother in law graciously helped me can pears, peaches & pickles. I LOVED having the canned food available, but it was a HUGE undertaking & didn't help me to feel less intimidated to do it myself.
With Brynlea starting to eat solids, the idea of being able to give her something that I KNOW what is in it, is very appealing.
My Mom did lots of canning when we were kids as my Dad has a pretty green thumb & we always had a decent garden & fruit trees in our yard. I remember lots of jams, peaches, pears, applesauce... enough to warrant large shelves to contain it all.
Even now they have an asian pear tree & make a WONDERFUL "pear sauce" with the fruit. For those who haven't seen an asian pear, they are also called an "apple pear" - have the shape & texture of an apple with the taste & sweetness of a pear. The pear sauce is very similar to apple sauce except that because the fruit is naturally sweeter than apples, it requires almost NO added sugar. A big bonus!!
I have a friend I met as a fellow Mom through Averie's preschool last year. She runs a wholesale nursery & has a small acreage with a few large greenhouses. Averie's school went to her nursery last year on a field trip & while we were there, she had mentioned that her next door neighbor has a small orchard (about a dozen different types of apple & pear trees - including an asian pear tree!) that he grew just for fun, but now that he is aging & ill (he is on dialysis now), the fruit just goes to waste. He had told her she was welcome to anything she wanted.
This triggered in my memory a few weeks ago & I dropped her a line. The kids & I headed over to her place about a week ago to check it out & were able to come home with a box of asian pears. Woohoo!! The rest of the fruit was still a couple weeks from being ready.
So, now I have the fruit.
I went to Superstore last night & they were clearing out some mason jars. Little ones but perfect for what I want them for - and they were $1.98 for a dozen!!
So this afternoon I finally got to it. I really didn't want that fruit to be wasted!
Ready to go in the pot!
Hey! That looks like REAL applesauce!!
It IS real applesauce!! Yay, me!
And I figured out that thanks to my friend & her generous neighbor (& clearance sale at Superstore) - I made SIX jars of no sugar added, organic pear sauce for... wait for it...
$1!!
Oh, & I couldn't make the house smell like heavenly apples & cinnamon without something we could enjoy right away...
Asian pear Crisp!! Yummm...
Brynlea enjoying a couple little tastes of ice cream... when her mouth opens THAT wide it means, "Me LIKEY!!" LOL
3 comments:
Way to go Erin! Your canning looks wonderful.
I LOVE PEARSAUCE!!! Made some last year, but didn't have the time to do it this year. Dang it.
Although I invested in some nifty gadget at BB & B (Bed Bath & Beyond) that will core stuff. It's fast and easy. Saved me a lot of time. Gotta love that you did it for $1 though!
Question though...how come your jars were upside down?
haha! That is my mom's canning solution instead of a "waterbath". You make sure the jars are hot (I take them straight out of the dishwasher) otherwise they'll crack - make sure the pear sauce is HOT - then fill the jar, put the lid on & flip upside down. It makes them seal as they cool. Kind of a cool trick :)
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