My First Canning Experience

By : Patrice Hall 

Hello all, this week I began my canning for the fall season, and I started with pears.  My family does not eat pears much, so they used to spoil in the refrigerator season after season.  I had 2 lbs and 10 ounces of pears from the delivery this week, a substantial amount to fill 4 each of the Ball pint size jars:

I peeled and cored the pears, then cut them into halves, in the meantime I made a simple light syrup with 5 ¾ cups of water with 1 ½ cup of organic sugar.  Then I took the pears and placed them in the syrup and brought the pot to a boil then simmered for 5 minutes.  The aroma of the pears in the syrup was heavenly, I wondered why I didn’t do this before!

Next, it was time to fill the jars, which I sterilized by boiling the jars, lids and rings.  I used the Ball canning kit (which was helpful😊) to fill the jars, wipe the rims and measure to make sure I left ½ inch space at the top before I placed the lids and rings on.  I placed the rubber Ball cushion in the pot and placed the jars inside.

Next, I made sure to fill the pot with water to ensure that the jars were covered with at least one inch of water, and I covered the pot with the lid and brought it to a boil and continued to boil for 25 minutes.

Time to remove the jars! Using the jar lifter, I removed each jar from the pot and placed them on towels which I placed on my countertop to ensure they won’t break on a hard, cold surface:

Next, it is time to wait for the jars to seal, which you will know by the popping sound from the lids, I was excited when I heard one pop within 5 minutes! I let them sit for 24 hours to allow them to seal and cool. After 24 hours all of the jars were properly sealed, and I tested them by removing the ring and gently tugging at the lids with my fingertips. All jars were sealed, cooled and ready to store in my cabinet. I was so proud of myself! Here is the picture of my finished product: