Pear Butter

simpleandsavy.blogspot.com

Fruit Butters are preserves  made from fruit puree and often have added spices.

They have less added sugar and do not require pectin, making them more economical. 

They spread well on breads (thus the butter term)  
and are usually used in the same way as jams and jellies. 

6 cups of ripe, washed, peeled, halved and cored pears

1-2 cups water (the more water the longer it takes to simmer out.)

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon ginger.

Place pears and water  in a large pot, cover and bring to a boil on medium high heat.  Cook until pears are soft. Remove pears from liquid and place in a blender or food processor. (You may want to cool slightly), or use an immersion hand blender to blend pears into a smooth puree. Add sugar and ginger and simmer open kettle until reduced to a thick, spreadable consistency, about 2-3 hours.

Place in freezer containers and freeze.

Or fill clean pint or half pint jars and process in a boiling water canner for 20 min. after the water in the canner returns to a boil.

Apricot Syrup

from the kitchen of: Christi Jardine- Stake Provident Living Leader

I adapted this recipe from a recipe from Winifred Jardine's,  Mormon Country Cooking.

Here is another great way to use those yummy apricots. 

If you think you don't like fresh apricots, try them cooked! 

They have a completely different and tangy flavor.

Give them a chance and you'll be hooked!

4 cups pureed fruit

1 cup of water

3 Tablespoons of lemon juice

2 cups of sugar

1/2 teaspoon of butter or margarine

Wash apricots and remove pits. Place apricots, water and lemon juice in blender and puree until smooth. Pour into a large pot (make sure it is at least double the size of the pureed apricots, because they boil up as they cook and it will boil over!). Bring to a boil over medium high heat and boil for 5 min. Add butter to reduce foaming. Remove from heat and skim remaining foam.* Pour into canning bottles and process. Makes 3 pints. (I usually double it to get a canner full).

For Utah (high altitude): process 20 min. for pints and 30 for quarts.

*The foam makes great syrup also! Eat it now and save the bottled syrup for later. Apricot syrup in the middle of a cold winter is a great little taste of summer!

Rhubarb-Strawberry Jam

From the kitchen of: Michele Higginson- Stake Provident Living Leader (2nd Ward)

This is great on whole wheat waffles! I also has about 1/4th of the sugar of regular jam!

5 to 6 cups rhubarb

1 cup water 

1 -15oz. can crushed pineapple.

5 cups crushed strawberries

2-3 cups sugar (to taste)

1 -6 oz., package strawberry jello

Cut up rhubarb. Place rhubarb and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Rhubarb will be juicy once it cooks down.  

When in juice form add crushed pineapple.  Then add crushed strawberries, sugar and strawberry jello. Stir as jam is brought to boil. Boil for 25 to 30 minutes.  Place in freezer containers, let cool and freeze. 

*To bottle fill jam jars, cover with lids and bands and while still hot, water bath. Once water is at a rolling boil, time for 15 min. Remove from canner and let cool. Check lids for seal, and store.