The kids and I went pear and apple picking at Andrew’s sister’s house one sunny afternoon several weeks ago and it was so nice to be able to spend some time out in the fresh country air. Their sprawling property has several mature apple and pear trees growing on it – lucky for us! – and we got a heads up when the fruit was ready for the pickin’. After nap time we made our way down dusty roads about an hour out of town and spent a few hours picking fruit, shaking limbs, and chasing their cat, Cloud. We barreled home just in time for supper with more apples and pears than we knew what to do with, which is never a problem to have, of course, and that evening I started on a simple crock pot apple sauce and left the pears out on an even surface to fully ripen.
After hours of peeling and coring, and several days later mind you, I ended up ordering an apple slicer per some suggestions on Instagram. What a difference that made! Even if you don’t have baskets upon baskets of fruit to peel, core, and slice, I recommend getting one. The kids are even able to use it with my help, just look at that cheeky grin up there! Once our pears fully ripened, I made several different kinds of preserved sauces with those, and then froze some sliced fruit with seasoning for pies later on in the season. My favorite recipe out of the lot was the chai spiced pear sauce, but all of them turned out wonderfully and were worth sharing here with you. In addition to the chai pear sauce (similar to a really yummy applesauce), I also made and preseved rosemary apple butter, cinnamon applesauce, and cardamon pear butter. So much goodness from this year’s harvest! Below are four simple recipes you can use for both apples and pears, and you don’t need a crock pot for them, but I do suggest getting one as we inch towards stew season. Each can be preserved and will last up to one year, or can be refrigerated for up to two weeks.
Kitchen Tools + Other Information:
- 7 quart slow cooker
- apple peeler
- 1 pound of apples = about 3 medium sized apples
Chai Spiced Pear Sauce (in photos above)
- 5 pounds sized pears peeled and sliced
- 1 cup chai concentrate (I use Tazo Chai Latte)
- 1/2 cup coconut or cane sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
To prepare, mix pears with sugar and add to the crock pot. Pour chai tea concentrate and lemon juice over the pears and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours. Use an immersion blender to blend to desired consistency. To preserve, see below.
Cinnamon Maple Applesauce
- 5 pounds sized apples peeled and sliced
- 1 cup water or apple juice
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup coconut or cane sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
To prepare, mix apples with sugar, maple syrup, honey, and cinnamon and add to the crock pot. Pour water (or able juice) and lemon juice over the apples and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours. Use an immersion blender to blend to desired consistency. To preserve, see below.
Cardamon Pear Butter
- 5 pounds pears peeled and sliced
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup coconut or cane sugar
- 2 teaspoons cardamon
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
To prepare, mix pears with sugar, cardamom, and salt and add to the crock pot. Pour lemon juice over the pears and cook on low for 10-12 hours. Use an immersion blender to blend until very smooth. To preserve, see below.
Rosemary Apple Butter
- 5 pounds apples peeled and sliced
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup coconut or cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
To prepare, mix apples with sugar, cinnamon, rosemary, and salt and add to the crock pot. Pour lemon juice over the apples and cook on low for 10-12 hours. Use an immersion blender to blend until very smooth. To preserve, see below.
Preserving Your Harvest Sauces and Butters: (taken from Ball Recipes)
- Ladle hot sauce or butter into a hot jar, leaving ¼-inch headspace.
- Remove air bubbles using a knife or chop stick and wipe jar rim.
- Center lid on jar and adjust band to finger-tip tight.
- Place sanitized jar in simmering-water canner.
- Repeat until all jars are filled and lower the rack into simmering water. Water must cover jars by at least 1 inch.
- Adjust heat to medium-high, cover canner and bring water to a rolling boil. Process half-pint or pint jars 10 minutes. Turn off heat and remove cover. Let jars cool 5 minutes. Remove jars from canner; do not retighten bands if loose.
- Cool for 12 hours on a counter and let seals pop!
- Check seals. Lids should not press up and down when center is pressed. Label and store jars.
There you are friends! If you’ve got lots of apples and pears on your hands this season, now you’ve got more than one delicious way to use them up. For those who are wondering just what to do with apple or pear sauce and or butter, you can put on oatmeal or porridge in the mornings, on ice cream at night, slather on buttered toast, melt on pork chops, on top of yogurt with granola, or even eat by the spoon full. Enjoy!
Allen Michael - Wow your pictures are amazing – makes it even more enticing. Thanks for the share!
Deanna - So much fun Amanda 🙂 Yes – those apple peelers really save the day when embarking on a preserving project of this magnitude! Three cheers for homemade preserves that last the winter! There is really nothing quite like it. … I’m curious to know where you got your dress from? It looks so nursing (and pregnancy) friendly – a rare find with a linen with no front buttons. Peace to you and your lovelies. Xo.
admin - Deanna, this dress is an old Laura Ashley that my friend stocked in her vintage shop! It’s one of the most comfortable things I own, and the color is my favorite. She sells other gems over at Dear Society http://dearsocietyshop.com x Amanda
Daniella - Yum! These recipes sound delicious! Is it pretty easy to preserve it all? The process seems intimidating to get right! Could you freeze these items as well? Or do you think they get watery with defrost?
Chop & Stir | Spiced Carrot Quinoa Morning Muffins » Homesong - […] 1 cup applesauce (0r pear sauce if you preserved a bunch like I did!) […]
Show & Tell | The Ing’s of Mid-Autumn » Homesong - […] much I don’t know what the heck we are going to do with all of it. I am definitely thinking spiced pear and apple butter will be our holiday gifts this […]