Pear Mincemeat and Pear Conserve

My dear friend Barbara sent me a letter this week...enclosed was their family recipe for Pear Mincemeat. I will definitely make this next year. I have to post my recipes here or I loose them. I have recipes in boxes, plastic boxes, plastic envelopes, recipes from auctions, I will soon need a forklift to move the piles, but I love recipes and sharing good ones is a blessing from one friend to another.

Pear Mincemeat
(Recipe from the Robinson family)

10 pounds pears (peeled and cored)
3 oranges (peel and pulp)
3 lemons (peel and pulp)
3 Delicious apples with peel
2 pounds raisins

Grind all the above together and add:
1 (24 oz.) bottle of Grape Juice
1 #2 can of crushed Pineapple
5 Pounds of sugar
1 Tablespoon each of cloves, nutmeg, all-spice, and
cinnamon
Mix all the ingredients and cook 30 minutes, stirring to
keep it from sticking.
Add 1 pound margarine or butter. Cook about 15 minutes
more. Seal in canning jars.
One pint will make 1 pie......


This recipe was shared on Homesteading Today by Granny Sue. I
made this and it is wonderful I also tried it with apples and
it is a beautiful blend, looks so pretty in the jars. I changed
the recipe up just a little and used two jars of marischino cherries
(drained) as I wanted a lot of color.She used candied cherries in
her recipe.


Pear Conserve

4 cups of peeled, cored and finely chopped pear
(the type of hand chopper often used for onions worked great for this)
1/4 cup chopped, candied cherries
1/2 orange (juice and rind)
1 box fruit pectin
5 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Prepare and measure the pears into a large saucepan. (If there is little juice, add 1/4 cup of water.)
Squeeze the juice out of the orange and into the pears in the saucepan.
Grate or zest the orange's peel into the mixture. Add the chopped cherries, spices and pectin and heat to boiling, stirring constantly.
Add the sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir constantly to prevent scorching.
Cook to a full rolling boil. Boil one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir and skim off foam for 5 minutes.
Ladle into hot sterilized jars. Clean jar rims carefully, put on lids and turn upside down for twenty minutes to aid the sealing process.
Return to upright position, tighten lids and check for seal as the jars cool.