Pearsins or Something Like That
All those pears we picked at my mom’s house are finally getting made into pearsauce, pear butter and my personal favorite, pearsins. What are pearsins you ask? Well, dried pears of course.
This is one of the easiest ways to process pears. Simple wash, cut in half, core and then cut in half again and place skin side down on a rack in the oven. Set oven to 170 and dry until they’re leathery and dry, but not crispy. I sometimes dry them for 3-5 hours then turn off the oven for a few hours, and keep doing that until they’re finished. Periodically check them and remove the ones that are dry and store in a cool dry place.
What kinds of fruits do you like dried?
Your post reminded me that I could dry some of the many pears I have waiting to be made into pear-sauce… another option besides canning that I seem to have forgotten :-)
I think apple slices, as boring as it sounds, are one of my favorite things to dry – sometimes I’ll leave them chewy, and sometimes take them more towards crispy… either way, it is a great munching snack. I’ve tried drying cranberries, but it never seems to come out right – they never quite get all the moisture out as far as necessary. I don’t like sweetened cranberries, so I’ll keep trying to do my own, but oof. Have you dried cranberries before? Any tips?
.-= Mangochild´s last blog ..Cooking Venture: Sorghum Bread =-.
to Mangochild's comment
I love all kinds of dried fruits!
to Amy W.'s comment
excellent post, i am still so tired of pears from last year, this looks awesome gonna do it today! thanks, peace for all
to ruralrose's comment
I dry just about all my fruits – at least the better part of them. Peach slices are better than candy, and pears almost as sweet. Apples I dry in slices for just munching or for pies later, or in bits to be reconstituted for muffins or pancakes. Plums I dry halved, as well as apricots when I have them. I absolutely love dried pie cherries – they’re my version of crasins (dried sweetened cranberries) but no sugar necessary for them to be tart/sweet. And then I make pounds of raisins out of my red seedless Reliance grapes. Leathers are a whole ‘nother story.
http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/2009/02/natural-food-preservation.html
.-= Sadge´s last blog ..Labor Day Holiday =-.
to Sadge's comment
I’m drying plums right now, but I do them whole, they take longer, but I prefer the no hassle method of preparation, just rinse and dry.
I love apricots, although I’ve never found local ones. I love dried cherries as well, none of our trees are producing yet, perhaps next year.
to Susy's comment
I love the crunchy texture of dried pears. We dry bananas, grapes,blueberries,strawberries,pears,peaches, and my favorite pineapple…which by the way takes a loooong time to dry!
Love your photo! kim
.-= the inadvertent farmer´s last blog ..Blackberry Picking… =-.
to the inadvertent farmer's comment
I just dried pears for the first time thanks to you :) I did smaller chunks as I want to use them in scones and granola. Yum! Then hubby picked a whole bunch more pears, sigh!
to s's comment
These sound wonderful! Great picture too!
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