Vanilla Chai Pear Butter
A smooth and delicious pear butter, infused with vanilla beans and chai tea. The pear butter is wonderful on toast or bread, on hot cereal or eat it straight from the jar.
Yield: 2 4 ounce jars
Ingredients
- 2 pounds of ripe pears, peeled and cored
- 1 cup of water
- 2 bags of organic chai tea
- 1/4 cup honey or a tad more depending on how sweet you like it, locally sourced Ames Farm is my favorite
- 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- juice of 1/2 a lemon
Instructions
- Place the pears, water, and chai tea bags in a medium-size saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat and simmer until the pears are soft and mushy, about 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
- When the pears have cooled, remove the tea bags. Purée the cooled fruit in a food processor or blender until smooth. Return the puréed pears to the saucepan. Stir in the honey and vanilla bean seeds. Bring the purée to a low simmer and cook, stirring regularly, until the purée has thickened and is spreadable, about 2 to 3 hours, or longer depending on how thick you would like it. The butter will thicken slightly as it cools; however, make sure you feel it is thick enough before you remove it from the heat—think jam.
- When the butter has thickened, remove it from the heat and stir in the lemon juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour the butter into a clean jar and refrigerate for up to 4 weeks.
- OR to water bath can: Pour the hot fruit butter into sterilized clean jars, wipe rims, apply lids/rings and process in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes (starting the time when the water returns to a boil). When the time is up, remove the jars from the water and let them cool on a towel-lined countertop. When the jars are cool to the touch, check the seals by removing the rings and lifting the jars by the edges of the lid. A good seal means that the lid will hold fast.
- Label your jars of fruit butter with the variety and the date. Store in a cool, dark place for up to six months.
- For step by step canning pictures, this is a great tutorial.