Amish Pear Butter Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is my pear butter not thickening? ›

If your pears are very juicy, you'll need to cook them longer so they reduce to the proper consistency for butter. If your pears are less ripe, they will contain more natural pectin that will gel and thicken the pear butter more quickly.

If you skim through the many "have to peel?" discussions here you'll find it is strongly recommended because (1) they can impart some bitterness, and (2) the peels are the primary source of bacteria and mold contaminants so can affect the end quality, flavor, and shelf life. Thus the recipe recommendations.

At this point, you may either can the pear butter, or simply let it cool to room temperature and store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 months. If you plan to store the pear butter outside of a refrigerator, follow proper canning procedures.

Also, have sterilized jars with lids and rings at hand. Cut the pears into quarters, remove the core, and peel. Slice quarters in thirds if working with large pears or into half in working with small pears. Place prepared pears in water with 1 tbsp of lemon juice to keep them from turning brown.

Rinse Homemade Butter

This will help chill the butter, helping it to solidify. Press the butter with a wooden spoon or spatula so that more of the buttermilk is removed from it.

“Any conditions which tend to harden the butter-fat will require a comparatively high churning temperature; and any conditions tending to soften the butter-fat will require a lowering of the churning temperature.”

Pear flesh is infused with very fine grit, made of clusters of stone cells. Stone cells, a subtype of sclereid cells, make up some other very hard tissues like peach pits and nut shells. Stone cells are born with their own death as an end goal.

Yes, dogs can eat pears. Pears are a great snack because they're high in copper, vitamins C and K, and fiber. If you're sharing pears with your dog, just be sure to cut the pear flesh into bite-size chunks and remove the pit and seeds first, as the seeds contain traces of cyanide.

Like other butters, it's a good idea to keep it refrigerated so it lasts longer. However, you can keep a week's worth of butter on your counter in a butter dish without risking spoilage. With a butter crock, it may last at cool room temperature even longer.

Just-picked or purchased pears should be ripened at room temperature. On the counter is fine, but keep unripened pears out of the 'fridge. Once ripe, you can store pears in the refrigerator. The cold temperatures will slow the ripening process and they'll keep for 3 to 5 days.

Why butter should not be refrigerated? ›

Salted butter does not need to be stored in the fridge since the risk of bacterial growth is so low. Studies have shown that butter has a shelf life of many months, even when stored at room temperature ( 6 , 10 ). However, it will stay fresh longer if it is kept in the refrigerator.

Procyanidins were the entities responsible for the appearance of pink discoloration. However, it seems that this pink discoloration also involved the formation of strong, probably covalent, bonds to the cell wall.

If your recipe called for lemon juice and you forgot to put it in, your mixture will not be acid enough for safe canning. You have to open the jars and put the mixture into a sauce pan.

Although pears are most often canned in simple syrup, it is quite safe to can them in juice or even plain water. The canning liquid is a flavoring element, not a safety consideration. There are two basic ways to safely can pears: the hot pack method and the raw pack method.

Sadly, sugar plays a huge role in set. If you cut the amount in the recipe and you don't compensate with a pectin designed for low sugar preserving, your jam may well be runny. Did you check for set while the jam was cooking? Any time a recipe gives you a cooking time, it's simply an approximation.

Apple butter is thickened by cooking it until most of the liquid has evaporated. This is usually a rather lengthy project, but results in a very thick, smooth texture. I prefer to use a slow cooker to do the final cooking of the apple puree.

Apple butter does thicken as it cools, but not by much. If it is runny when you transfer it to jars, it will still be thin the next day. If this happens, you can heat it up again to evaporate more of the liquid.

Generally speaking, if your jam doesn't firm up, you were short in pectin, sugar or acidity or didn't get a hard boil. We will correct that when we remake the jam or jelly! Finally, you CANNOT reliably make batches of jam larger than 6 cups of raw fruit (of course, but the time you add sweetener, lemon juice, etc.