It’s the first part of September here on the farmstead, which means one thing….the pear trees are ready to harvest from! Our pear trees give us more pears than any small country could possibly eat! I have a way to process a lot of pears quickly, so let me show you how to make pear sauce in the Instant Pot.
Once again, we have two pear trees that give off crazy amounts of fruit every year!
In case you’re new to pear processing, understand that pears are harvested while they are still hard, because they ripen from the inside out.
So, all of the pears you see here are rather firm and wouldn’t be good for eating.
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However, I have found a way to use these hard pears!
I make pear sauce in my Instant pot!
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Since the trees are on my property and I’m sure no one has sprayed them, I just leave the skins on.
I give them a quick wash in the sink and then rinse and drain.
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With my work area set up, I start chopping the pears into pieces, cutting out any bad spots.
It doesn’t matter if the pieces are even 1/4 of the pear size, because the pressure cooking in the Instant Pot will soften them up like crazy!
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Here’s what the inside of my Instant Pot looks like when it’s full of raw pears.
Add one cup of water and 1 tbsp. of cinnamon.
You can add other spices like nutmeg, ginger or cloves, but I like the simply sweet taste of the pears to come through.
I set my Instant Pot on Pressure Cook for 5 minutes.
After only 5 minutes, this is how soft and mushy those hard pears are!
I love how fast I can process these pears into pear sauce!
I let them cool for a few minutes and then load up my Ninja Chef blender with the cooked pears.
I’ve had my Ninja Chef for a while now, and I love how powerful it is!
It’s one of those tools that really come in handy when you’re processing food and worth the investment!
After less than a minute, here’s what the pear sauce looks like!
As I work through batches, I keep adding to my large pot of pear sauce on the stove.
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While your water bath canner is heating up its water, get your jars ready for the pear sauce.
Put your canning lids in a saucepot on the stove on “low” to just keep them warm, DO NOT BOIL!
Fill the jars up with your pear sauce, either pints or quarts, they both take the same amount of time
Should I Add More Acid to the Jar when Canning Pear Sauce?
It is not necessary to add lemon juice or another citric acid when canning apple or pear sauce.
It is also acceptable to can the pear skins along with the pear sauce, since I did not peel them.
Using a funnel, fill your jars up leaving 1/2 inch of head space.
Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean cloth, apply lids and rings.
Tighten your rings with a firm twist.
Bring your jars to a full boil, reduce heat slightly and process for 20 minutes.
Take a look at how beautiful your pear sauce turned out!
How to Use Pear Sauce in Recipes
There are tons of recipes that allow you to incorporate your pear sauce, here are just a few of my favorites!
I also love to eat our pear sauce over oatmeal or just by itself, warm, in a bowl on a cold day.
Pear sauce (as well as its sister, apple sauce) can be used in recipes to replace the oil! More about those types of substitutes here.
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Enjoy!
