After a bumper harvest from our pear tree, we decided to make some Home Made Pear Jam from a few of the pears. First time making jam, first time using our own Pears!

I found a home made pear jam recipie online –

• 4 cups mashed pears
• 7. 5 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• 1tsp ground cumin
• 1tsp allspice

the recipie said to mash the pears – the masher was never going to work (the pears had been ripening for 2 weeks, but could have done with another) so we used the hand blender to pulp them instead.

We then added the sugar and cooked it till it boiled

And added 1 tsp butter to get rid of the froth as the recipie said.

I had ordered some jam jars from amazon, but I was disappointed with how small they were, so next time I make jam I’ll buy the cheapest jam from the supermarket and reuse the jars (though I do have a collection of empty jars now).

Decanting the jam into jars was easy with a soup ladel, but the process was a bit weird at first: put the jars in a big pot (I used the slow cooker pot) fill the pot with boiling water, then leave the jars in the pot to heat them for 5 mins. Once the jars are heated, remove the jars one at a time (with the grippy things) and fill with jam, leaving a wee gap for air. set then jars to the side.

Once all jars are filled, place back in slow cooker pot, and add new boiling water to cover the jars – bubbles will escape – this is good, the jars will be sealed. leave for 10 mins. take out of the water and sit to cool for 24-48 hours.