This year was great for pears. We picked a little over 300 lbs in 2 evenings. They have been in the house now for a little over 2 weeks, and have ripened up just perfectly. This year we've decided to dehydrate many of them, as time has been strapped due to some house remodeling, woodcutting, fruit collecting… you can make yourself as busy as you want! Anyhow… Out of the many fruit trees around this old place we bought, there are about 10 pear trees. They are all Bartlet as far as we can tell, however, one tree had possibly a different type of pear that was really small. We did pick around 25 or so pears off of it. Here's a picture: 

Drying the pears is the easiest process for sure. It is actually my favorite because when I get home from work, the entire house smells just wonderful. Dried Pears and Pear butter make excellent gifts too. A good friend of mine sent me some bananas he dried from his farm in Kauai. They were the best dried bananas I have ever had, and I like dried bananas.

Now someone might ask; "what are the essential tools of the pear drying and canning trade?" While some might not ask, I will share with you what is used anyways. (Skip this section if you already know.) You for sure need a dehydrator, we like the Excalibur dehydrator. An apple/pear corer, a couple large pots, big knife, spatula or slickapot, food mill, and loads time. It's worth it though. A lot of the time you can find trees in town that are just dropping fruit everywhere, ask the owners if you can have it, and enjoy some free dried, buttered, sauced, fruit.

 

Tags: butter, dried, fruit, pear, processing