Pear Preserves

Hello All -- Amber here ...

The other day I served my little homemade chocolate cakes with a fresh pear preserve and berries for first course. A guest asked how I made the preserves so what follows is my basic formula. Take one pear and peel it then cut it up -- leaving the core out. Put it into a pot with simple syrup -- which is half sugar and half water. Then boil the batch until most of the liquid is gone but there is no sticking to the bottom of the pan happening. You will need to stir the pot a few times and don't forget to squeeze the juice of one lemon in as it cooks -- this will help the preserves to remain "white" and will also allow the pear to sing -- just mind the seeds. Once the mix has cooked down, most of the fluid is gone, and the pears are tender take it off the heat and mash it. A potato masher works well -- or a mixer -- or food processor.

I use the preserves I make within a day or two. Thus they are fresh and delicious. One pear will yield about four or five tablespoons. Try it with any fruit you want and ... enjoy!