So we picked the tree clean of pears at GG's house this weekend. The end of the season bounty was huge. We had so many pears! It was such a lucky break too. Things have been especially tight lately and we weren't able to do our usual trip to the apple orchard this year. Pears became a quick substitute when I realized how many we would have. This was even more so when we saw that these pears were very hard and often misshapen. They lent themselves to cooking willingly. We have prepped all the pears at this point and are ready with so many uses. I will cover them all, with all the recipes, I promise.
First up is dehydrated rings. They are first because they are the easiest and take a long time. It really helps to get an impossibly cute kid to help you. Child labor may be illegal in some parts of the world, but not here in this house!
I had another major score this weekend when my grandmother gave me an apple peeler/corer/slicer that she found, unopened, at a yard sale. Great news! Just as I suspected, it works with pears too! Hooray.
For the rings, we prepared 3 pears with the slicing machine. I broke individual rings off using only the ones that were all pretty much the same size. The small pieces I threw in the pot marked for sauce. I laid them out on baking sheets covered in parchment paper and lightly sprinkled them with sugar. I got 12 to a sheet but you don't really need to worry about overcrowding. They will shrink considerably in the drying process.
We let them dry out in a 225 degree F. oven for around 2 1/2 - 3 hours. They could have gone a bit longer, but the girls like them with still a little firmness. We got 3 dozen rings dried in our first round. They are so yummy! The girls love them for snacks and they have even been satisfying my late night sweet tooth.
The best part is that they were only the first step in our major pear preparations! Keep your eyes out for future pieces. Soon I'll bring you pear sauce (instead of boring apple sauce), prepping and freezing pie and crisp ready pears and pear jelly made entirely from peels and cores! As always they'll all be super simple.
You can bet I'll be munching on these at my next craft fair!
Simple City Sam
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