I made another batch of jam jars, this time preserving red pears. As incredible as it may sound, this is the first time I see this variety of pears, though I'm not sure what it is. But they were very tasty and the jam came out quite sweet.
- 1.5 kg of cleaned cut pears
- 750 g of sugar (next time I would add less, these pears were really sweet)
- 1 teaspoon of citric acid
- 3 tablespoons of cognac
As you may have noticed, I prefer not to use pectin as a jellying agent, as I don't like the taste it gives to the preserves. However, I wouldn't shy from using pectin for preserving soft and delicate fruit such as berries or figs, as with pectin you can only boil the fruit for a few minutes and prevent them from becoming too squashy.
My preparation procedures were as usual - I cleaned and cut the pears, covered them with sugar and left them in the fridge for the night. On the following day I brought the fruit to boil for a few minutes and left it to cool on the hot plate for a few hours. Then I smashed the pears a little with a hand blender and cooked them at moderate temperature for about an hour until the jam thickened. Then I added a teaspoon of citric acid and cooked for 3 more minutes. Just before I took the pan off the plate I added three tablespoons of Greek cognac, stirred and poured the jam into the clean, dry jars. I don't know if it's the pears or the cognac, but this is the best jam I've made so far! The jars were actually four but to my surprise, when I entered the kitchen this morning to take a few shots of the jam, I found the fourth jar almost empty :)))
