From the Kitchen of John Naglich
| 6 pounds hard green pears, sliced |
| 2 or 3 lemons, cut in wedges |
| 2 to 2 1/2 pounds sugar |
| 1 (3-inch) piece ginger |
Yield: 4-5 pints
6 lbs of peeled, and sliced pears. It's 6 lbs because that is how much my stainless bowl holds with room to stir. Use only firm pears, the old fashioned green ones that are hard as a rock make good preserves. The softer pears tend to cook apart.
2-3 lemons- cut in wedges
2-2.5 lbs sugar
fresh ginger root- about 3in piece peeled. More if you like ginger
In a large stainless bowl put about 2 inches of pear slices, squeeze a lemon wedge or two on the pears to keep them from turning brown, stir or toss to coat with the lemon juice. Dice the lemon peel in a fine dice and add to the pears or you can add the peel from the wedge solid if you like the look but you get less lemon flavor that way.
Sprinkle about 1/2 cup or more of sugar over the layer of pears to coat well. Then stir or toss again.
Peel the ginger root and cut into a one-inch piece and a two-inch piece. Grate the one-inch piece, you should have about one tablespoon. If you like the ginger taste you can double the amount of grated ginger. Make a fine dice of the 2-inch piece of ginger. You should have about two tablespoons of minced.
Add about 1/3 of your grated ginger and 1/3 of your minced.
Repeat layers adding pears, lemon juice, lemon peel diced, grated ginger, and sugar.
Don't skimp on the sugar. It probably looks like too much but you need about 2- 2.5 lbs depending on how firm the pears are. Keep mixing as you add the layers and you should be seeing a good bit of liquid as you are putting this together. Ultimately after sitting in the fridge overnight the syrup should just cover the pear slices if you get the sugar amount correct.
After sitting overnight in the fridge, pour the pears and syrup into a large wide stainless pot, bring to a slow boil, cover with a lid and let slowly boil for about 20 min. Stir often. Remove the lid and continue to boil slowly uncovered stirring often. In about 30-45 min depending on how fast you are boiling the syrup start checking to see if the syrup in thickened enough by coating a wooden spoon and wiping your finger along the back of the spoon. If your finger leaves a clearly defined line with little or no run back then it is ready. I have found that the uncovered cook time is more often longer than 45 min but keep checking until the syrup is to the right stage. Remember it will thicken as it cools.
Ladle into sterilized jars while still hot and put lids on snugly. As the preserves cool the jars should seal. If they don't just keep the preserves in the fridge. They probably won't be around long enough to spoil in any case.
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