The following recipe for a home-canned Salted Caramel Pear Butter is from SurvivalBlog reader Connie S.  It can be home-canned.

Ingredients
  • 4 lbs. Pears, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
  • 1/3 cup apple cider
  • 2 Tbsp. bottled lemon juice
  • 2-1/2 cups dark brown sugar: Be sure to use the dark variety.
  • 2 tsp. Sea salt or kosher salt
Directions
  1. Mix one tablespoon citric acid with warm water.
  2. Peel and core pears, keep them in the citric acid mixture. This will keep the pears from turning brown while you work. When all pears are peeled they can be stored in the citric acid overnight in your refrigerator.
  3. When ready to process, remove the pears from the citric acid mixture. You do not need to rinse them.
  4. Put pears in a crock-pot.
  5. Add the apple cider and lemon juice.
  6. Cook on high for approximately 40 minutes until tender. Stir occasionally.
  7. Run cooked pear mixture through a blender until smooth, or use an immersion blender.
  8. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.
  9. Cook down the mixture in the crock pot until thickened to the consistency you desire — usually 3-4 hours. This depends on the juiciness of the pears.
  10. Can any that won’t be used immediately. To home-can it, use 1/2 pint or pint jars. Process for 15 minutes in a water bath
Tips to avoid waste:
  • I give the citric acid water to my goats for a treat. I don’t know if it’s the acid or the sweetness from the pears, but they seem to enjoy it.
  • Use the pear scraps to make jelly, or pear scrap vinegar. Both recipes can be found online. After making either jelly or vinegar feed the scraps to the chickens.
  • The pear peelings can also be put in home made dog food.

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