They were on sale. They aren't quite ripe yet, so I have a day or two to figure this out.

What do I do with them?

Thanks!

My mother use to make something called Pear Applesauce and it was like applesauce, and made with apples and pears. It was very good, I ate it all the time. Just an idea! There's lots of recipes online for it. It would store well also.

I would use no sugar added apple juice and a sugar substitute though. Here's one for an example:

• 6 pears (slightly underripe), peeled and cut into large pieces
• 4 apples
• 2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup apple juice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Sorry, just realized that was in the whole-foods thread. If that recipe is out of place, sorry!

Yep, or take that pear sauce and cook it in a crockpot for 12 hours and can up some pear butter!

Pear butter was going to be my suggestion as well. Either that, or just get out the canner and can them up as-is. (I make it sound so easy, huh!??)

I have never had pear butter, but man that sounds SO good!

Thanks everyone. I didn't know where to post the question--I thought no further than "a pear is a whole food."

Pear "applesauce" Hmmm. Sounds good. And I've never even heard of pear butter before. I'm going to look that up.

Thanks!

PS--they are still green and hard. How long will it take for them to ripen? Yeesh.

I canned peaches several weeks ago using agave nectar instead of sugar. They turned out fantastic! I think you could substitute pears across the board. I am replacing white sugar and honey with agave in all my recipes since it is so much lower on the glycemic index. Here is the link I used for my peaches.

http://www.madhavasagave.com/RecipeD...px?RecipeID=33

Actually, I was wrong--one of the pears was just ripe enough to eat. It was so good in vanilla yogurt with a sprinkle of cinnamon! Yum.

I just may make the apple/pear sauce. That sounds wonderful. I'm going to have to freeze it as I haven't any canning equipment. I found a recipe that said "sugar to taste"--so if I use really sweet apples, I can keep the sugar down significantly, I think. I have no access to agave and I've never tried it--though that may change! Thanks for the suggestion.

Well, by the time I'd found, purchased and got all the canning equipment together, (I swear there was a city-wide shortage) the family had put quite a dent in that box!

Still, it took me an hour to peel and chop all my fruit.

I made up a mixture of pears and apples (Gala) and didn't use any sugar--and I only got 3 pints for my efforts!

Jeez Louise, you'd think the first time I'd ever canned anything I could have had a bounty! But that's OK. You know, it was an NSV of sorts, anyway...a year ago, heck, six months ago, there would have been NO way I could have stood on my feet for an hour and peeled anything.

And you know what--It's so good, I may just go get another box.

What about slicing them and sprinkling them with cinnamon and dehydrating some? I would KILL to have some good pears for my dehydrator right about now!

I would peel, core and slice them and do one of the following:

• make a pear crisp or crumble
  
• make a low sugar (or no sugar) pear sauce, and freeze it in snack-sized baggies, 1/2 cup in each one and use the sauce over the winter for baking (in many baked goods, you can replace the oil with the apple or pear sauce).

A restaurant by us makes a sandwich of grilled pear, bacon and brie on homemade toasted bread, with a little salt and cracked pepper it's amazing! I have a vegetarian friend who gets it without the bacon and she still loves it. Obviously not something to eat every day - but as a treat on a cold day, yum )

If you have an immersion blender, a sieve and a rubber ladle (or a foley food mill) you can save yourself a ton of time. For pear or apple sauce I just core and cut in to chunks, I do not peel. Cook until soft (if I have a small batch I just microwave ). Blend with a blender or immersion blender. Scoop into the sieve and with the back of the ladle swirl quickly to push the sauce through. (A ladle works better than a spoon) The swirling action will cause the peel remnants to form a ball in the sieve and will quickly push the sauce through. As the level drains in the sieve add more. At the end scrape the bottom of the sieve off with a spoon to get the last bits.

I do tomato sauce in a similar fashion, I dont peel and seed first, I just stem and slice, cook and blend, then sieve the peel bits and seeds out.

That reminds me of something I had at a restaurant - quesadillas made with brie and papaya. Really yummy treat. I've been loving adding fruit, fresh or dried or grilled, to non-dessert dishes. The version you describe sounds delicious too. Bacon (and rarely a hamburger) are about the only things I still miss as a vegetarian.