Pears Exotica

Total Time: 50 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 6 lbs pears
• 1 lemon
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 4 cups water
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 4 bay leaves
• 12 pink peppercorns
• 12 green peppercorns

Recipe

• 1 prepare jars, lids and bands.
• 2 peel, halve and core pears. place in a color protection solution made of 4 tbsp fruit fresh dissolved in 8 cups water, if desired. set aside.
• 3 with vegetable peeler remove the zest from lemons in a continuous spiral; cut into 4 pieces. squeeze lemon juice.
• 4 in a large stainless steel saucepan combine sugar, water, vinegar and lemon juice. bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
• 5 drain pears and add to syrup; cook mixture until liquid returns to a boil and pears are heated through.
• 6 place 1 strip lemon peel, 1 bay leaf, 3 pink and 3 green peppercorns in a hot jar.
• 7 pack hot pears snugly into prepared jars leaving a 3/4 inch headspace.
• 8 pour 1/4 cup of brandy over pears. add hot syrup to cover pears leaving a 1/2 inch headspace.
• 9 using nonmetallic utensil, remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if equired, by adding more pears, spices and hot syrup.
• 10 process filled jars for 20 minutes in a boiling water bath. adjust time according to your altitude.