Crock Pot Pear Butter

Or you know, slow cooker pear butter, either way this recipe rocks! Any recipe that starts with abundant seasonal fruit then cooks itself and has no added sugar is just all right with me. I was eavesdropping the other day when I heard a friend mention pear butter in the crock pot, I butted right in and demanded a recipe, so we whipped out an iPad and googled a recipe right then. It was easy enough to find recipes but when it came time to make the pear butter I wanted super simple, low sugar and skins on the pears, not an easy combination. So I made it up as I went along, uhh not unusual for me as you probably already know.

Crock Pot Pear Butter
22 medium to large pears--organic if you can
fresh grated nutmeg-15-20 seconds worth
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 whole vanilla beans
pinch of good salt
1/4 cup of water


wash and dry the pears
split them in have and use a small spoon to scoop out the core
remove any bad patches
place them in a large crock pot set to low
grate the nutmeg directly over the pears
sprinkle on the cinnamon
split the vanilla beans in half and scrape the seeds in to the pears, throw in the pods too
add the pinch of salt and the water
cook on low for 24-36 hours stirring occasionally
after the first 4 hours or so mash the fruit with a potato masher
when it's done and reduced to about 1 inch or so in the crock pot, remove the vanilla beans
use a stick blender to puree the pear butter
or you can put it through a food mill but the peels of (organic) fruit are good for you
either way put it in jars and pass it out to friends for immediate use OR can it using a 5 minute boiling water bath(directions in this post!)
chances are it won't last long no matter what you do with it!

from this

to this!

Peace and Love--