Pear jam: 9 recipes

Sweet juicy and surprisingly fragrant pear is not inferior in popularity to the apple tree. It is also known since ancient times and has been cultivated as a cultivated plant in many countries. The benefits of pears are undeniable, and the taste is very diverse due to the constant work of breeders, breeding new varieties and hybrids. Fruits are happy to eat fresh, prepare juice, fruit puree, amazing desserts, including marmalade, marshmallows and delicate jam.

Fruit beauty

In ancient times, when the universal standard of female beauty, measured in centimeters, had not yet taken root, the beauty of childbearing age was compared with a ripe pear. Indeed, lush hips against the background of the graceful line of the neck and shoulders were the key to fertility and easy resolution from burdens.

Interesting: pear flavor is on the list of recognized aphrodisiacs. By the way, there is even a variety called "Gifts of Aphrodite."

The tree is tall, wild species reach 25 m in height with a crown span of 5 m. At the same time, regular pruning is required, otherwise the crown quickly thickens, the fruiting volume decreases. Pears become smaller, losing their taste and aroma, and become vulnerable to typical diseases and pests. A well-groomed tree in the harvest year is capable of producing up to 150 kg of fruit.

The leaves of the tree are small, rounded, with a sharp tip. At the height of the season they are dark green with a glossy surface. The flowering period occurs in late April or early May. But it is much more interesting to remember the dates of fruiting. This will have to focus on the variety and weather characteristics of the growing region. Early varieties reach ripeness in mid-July, later varieties are removed before the frosts. All types are suitable for making sweet desserts, but winter pears need to lie down and mature until the taste is fully revealed.

For summer and autumn varieties, such exposure is not required. Moreover, early ripe varieties with delicate juicy pulp quickly begin to deteriorate. It is better to immediately process them into juice, jam or jam.

Composition and calorie content

The amount of vitamins in fruits is average, just in moderation. Vitamins of groups B, C, E, P, K have the highest indices. But pears are valued for other components:

• fiber;
• tannins;
• organic acids;
• a complex of micro and macro elements;
• pectins;
• flavonoids;
• enzymes;
• alkaloids;
• alimentary fiber;
• chlorogenic acid;
• arbutin.

Sorbitol, which is part of the fruit, is very important. With a sweeter pulp, pears are not prohibited for diabetics, at the same time providing a light diuretic effect and vasodilating effect.

The smallest caloric value of fresh pulp. It does not exceed 57 kcal, but in dried fruits it reaches 262 kcal, which creates certain problems for those who need to control their weight. In jam, calorie content is also steadily increasing due to the presence of sugar in recipes. But most of the nutrients remain almost unchanged, with the exception of B vitamins, which are rapidly decreasing during cooking.

What is useful pear jam

The most useful are fresh fruits, and you should not argue with this. It is a pity that the pear season, for all its duration, still ends. It remains only to be sad about the inaccessible goodies or try to stock up a little for long winter evenings.The list of recipes is great. Dried fruit slices are best stored. They have a 4-fold increase in calorie content compared to fresh pears, but most of the nutrients remain unchanged.

Regular consumption of pears normalizes the intestines, activates peristalsis and stimulates the removal of toxins from the body. The unique composition of the fruits allows you to strengthen blood vessels, reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke by lowering cholesterol, increasing the elasticity of large and small vessels, stabilizing blood pressure. Pears increase the level of immunity, increase the body's resistance to pathogenic bacteria, fungi and viruses, restore the natural intestinal microflora.

Folic acid is indispensable for pregnant women and those who have approached the threshold of age-related changes. Pear increases sexual desire, stabilizes hormones, reduces the severity of PMS.

The combination of diuretic and antimicrobial action makes the pear very useful for alleviating the symptoms of urinary tract infections. 2-3 small fruits per day, together with the skin, stop indigestion, act like a sponge, adsorbing harmful substances and toxins. The action of pears on the intestines is dual. Fresh pulp weakens a little, tannins in the skin are fixed. Therefore, for an emergency stop of diarrhea, a decoction of them with the addition of cherry berries is effective.

Small calorie content with high nutritional value allows you to include pears in weight loss programs, for a long time removing the feeling of hunger and giving energy for half a day.

There are few restrictions on the use of the product. You can’t eat fresh fruits and jam with individual intolerance, during exacerbations of gastrointestinal diseases. Dried fruits are not recommended for obesity; it is better to give preference to fresh fruits.

How to choose pears for jam

For jam, you will need sweet varieties, such as:

• Augustow.
• Lada.
• Chizhovskaya.
• Duchess.
• Cathedral.
• Muscovite.
• Dessert Rossoshanskaya.

If you choose in the market, then preference is given without hesitation to a domestic product. It is best to go to the farmers market or arrange with one of the summer residents. So the quality will be guaranteed, but the price will remain low. The best recommendation would be a bright rich aroma and juicy flesh. For jam, you can not take mashed ripe fruits with the smell of fermentation.

For two or three-component desserts, early varieties are suitable, for classic jam from pears and sugar it is better to take autumn.

How to cook pear jam: recipes

A pear, like an apple, is not stored frayed with sugar. Have to boil a sweet mass for at least a few minutes.

Classic

The recipe contains only granulated sugar and pears. If they are large, then the flesh is cut into slices. Small varieties can be divided into halves, removing the stalks, peel and core. 1: 1 fruit sprinkled with sugar is left to separate juice for 6–9 hours. The liquid is drained and boiled separately until a homogeneous consistency. Then the pears are poured with boiling syrup and cook for 1 hour over low heat, regularly stirring with a wooden spatula.

Important: syrup is poured into pears, and not vice versa. So the fruits will remain intact and cook faster.

Through the glass barrel of a sterilized jar, the pears look incredibly attractive, therefore, after cooling, they urgently need to be removed away so that the household does not immediately eat them.

Sissy

Many since childhood remember the most delicate fruit purees. Apple was the first lure for babies, but pear was also considered no less dainty, only offered to the child a little later. A very simple recipe will help to recall the taste of childhood.

Sweet, juicy, fully ripened pears are peeled and peeled, minced through a meat grinder or blender to a mushy state. Sugar is added in an amount of 250 g per 1 kg of peeled fruit. On low heat, the mass is boiled for 20 minutes with constant stirring and immediately transferred to small sterilized jars with a sealed lid. Dessert is stored only in the refrigerator.

As soon as the jar is open, the contents are eaten during the day. The problem is always where to get the supplement later. A treat can be prepared with apples, bananas, condensed milk.

With plum

The fruiting time of the pear and plum almost coincides, so there is a great chance for a sumptuous dessert. Cooking options - with and without sugar.

In the first case, take 2 kg of each ingredient and 500 ml of water. Fruits are cut into slices, covered with sugar, left to stand for 3 hours and boiled for 1 hour until the volume is reduced by 2 times.

The second method is suitable for those who do not welcome excess sweetness in the diet. For 4 kg of ripe peeled pears, cut into thin slices, you need 2 kg of plums, sorted in half, and 1 liter of water. Cooking lead in 5 sets of 15 minutes. The ingredients are laid at the same time, the volume decreases 3-4 times. Dessert is stored only in a cool place under airtight lids.

With apple

The classic combination will never go out of style. Additional ingredients change, but the base remains the same:

• apples - 1.5 kg;
• pears - 0.5 kg;
• sugar - 1 kg.

Usually choose sweet varieties of fruit. To jam did not work cloying, add 1 tbsp. a spoonful of freshly squeezed lemon juice. If one type of fruit is sour, then third-party additives are not required. Apples and pears are peeled, peeled and stalked, cut into cubes, kept under a layer of granulated sugar for 3 hours. Then, over high heat, the mass is brought to a boil, if necessary, lemon juice is added and removed from the stove for 40 minutes, covered with a lid. If you cook for 50-60 minutes, you get jam, with a doubled time, the result will be a homogeneous aromatic jam. In both cases, the mass is laid out on sterilized jars in hot form. When cooling, it thickens.

With orange

For treats take an equal amount of pears and sugar. To them add 1 large orange with a thin crust. Pears are cut into cubes, orange - into thin slices. The ingredients are placed in a pan in layers, sprinkled with sugar, incubated for 2 hours. The mass begins to boil over medium heat. When it boils, the heat is reduced to a minimum and the jam is simmered for 10 minutes. Then it is covered with a towel and left for 8-10 hours. At this time, the pear is soaked in syrup and becomes soft and translucent.

Final boiling lasts only 5 minutes. The finished treat is poured into cans. Jam with lemon is prepared according to the same principle.

With cinnamon and nuts

Jam is great as a topping for ice cream, pancakes, cottage cheese. For cooking, you will need 2 kg of pears and sugar and 350 g of peeled walnut kernels. The syrup is boiled with 500 ml of water. They can be left in quarters or crumble more finely, but not to the state of dust. Pears are cut into large slices, if they are small, then they are divided into 4 parts, remove the core. Prepared fruits are poured with boiling syrup, boiled for 10 minutes, add nuts, cinnamon and boiled for another half hour. Jam laid out on the banks in hot form.

With lingonberries

For 3 kg of pears you will need 1 kg of berries, 2.5 kg of sugar, 1 ring of lemon. Add cinnamon and cloves if desired. Before cooking, lingonberries must be poured with boiling water for 2-3 minutes, removing bitterness from the berries. Then they are thrown back into a colander, draining excess fluid. Pears choose juicy, but with dense pulp, so that they do not boil into porridge.They are cleaned, cut into thin slices, mixed with berries.

The syrup is boiled well in advance, after 5 minutes of boiling it is poured into a container with lingonberries and pears, rearranged on medium heat and boiled for 5 minutes. Then the mass is insisted under a lid from 12 hours to a day and boiled again for 15 minutes. It turns out a golden ruby ​​dessert with a surprisingly harmonious taste. If spices are used, then they are added 5 minutes before the end of cooking.

With cherry plum and apples

A sweet dessert with a slight sourness is useful in the long winter, when fresh food is so boring and you want something juicy. The ingredients are taken in equal proportions, 1 kg, including sugar. Cherry plum is pricked with a toothpick to better separate the juice, the fruit is cut into small cubes. You can cook with prior infusion or boil immediately, but with the addition of water. The total cooking time is 40 minutes. As an option, seeds are taken out of the berries, all the ingredients are crushed in a blender, the mass is boiled for 20 minutes longer. It turns out great jam.

In a slow cooker

The technique is designed to prepare different dishes, making life easier for a modern person. Jam is also easily prepared in a slow cooker, and the peel skin in this case can not be removed. For 2 kg of fruit, sugar, only 1 kg is needed, for very sweet varieties add the juice of half a lemon.

The ingredients are immediately poured into the bowl, the “Extinguishing” program is selected with a delay of 2 hours. After 20 minutes of cooking, stir the contents so that the treat does not burn. In new models there is a corresponding option “Jam”, where you don’t have to open the lid at all. Operating time - 60 minutes. You don’t need to immediately lay out the dessert on the banks, it should be infused in the slow cooker for another 2-3 hours.

How to store pear jam

When boiling fruits for longer than 30 minutes, the jam is well stored even at room temperature. The best option would be the shelves of the pantry away from heating appliances and stoves. You can put jars of dessert on a cool loggia or a glazed balcony. In case of small frosts, it is enough to cover the reserves from above with an old jacket or blanket, and they will perfectly survive the winter.

Five minutes should only be in the refrigerator. With all its resistance to heat, the pear will quickly ferment if there are water droplets in the jar, therefore sterilization is carried out in a dry way. Well-boiled jam does not need to be hermetically rolled up; you can close it with ordinary plastic covers, waxed paper, tied with a twine or thick thread.

Interesting facts about pear

1. The tree lives 150-200 years. Long-livers are found, whose age reaches 3 centuries.
2. The wood is very beautiful, light, used in the manufacture of furniture and musical instruments.
3. Before tobacco, the crushed dry pear tree leaves served as the smoking mixture.
4. Fruits have a minimal allergenicity score.
5. Wild pear native to Asia.
6. Close relatives of the culture are about 2 thousand plants. Among them are apple trees, roses, and hawthorn.
7. In China, a pear is considered a symbol of immortality.
8. Regular use of pears strengthens tooth enamel.
9. Under the right conditions, fruits can be stored until a new crop.
10. The largest pear was grown in Japan and weighed 3 kg.

In ancient Greece, a pear was called the "gift of the gods" along with grapes. It was valued as a medicine, juicy pieces were taken on sea voyages by those who could not stand the pitching. The jam retains the basic properties of fresh fruits. By experimenting a little, you can collect a whole gallery of pear-based flavors. But it is worth considering that then the choice will be very difficult, because each recipe is original in its own way.

Photo of pear jam