Pear Sauce

I just love pears.  For pear sauce I like Bartlett pears.  They are really sweet and their texture is not too grainy when canned. Start with a 20 pound box of pears.  This should yield about 12 pints. Pears are picked green and kept in the cooler until sent to market where they begin ripening.  If your pears are green, take them home and set them in a warm, not hot place to ripen.  You want them just yellow and still quite firm.  This way teh sugars are developed and the fruits are firm.

1. Rinse and peal pears, placing them in a large bowl with a little lemon juice (3 tsp). The lemon juice keeps it from browning and adds acidity to your mixture.
2. Have your jars in the pot cleaned.  
3. Now halve the pears and remove the cores.
4. I like chunky pear sauce, so at this point I cut up half the pears (into bite sized chunks) and put them in a large processing pot.  Remember the wider your (non-reactive) pot is, the faster the pears will cook down.
5. You may wish to add sugar at this point.  Maybe a cup or so if you are so inclined.  REMEMBER that the mixture will cook down and become sweeter!
6. Cook covered for about 5 minutes to bring the juices out and avoid burning.  Uncover and stir occasionally for about 10 minutes.
7. Now you need to puree.  You can do this with a blender in batches, or if you have an immersion blender (or a hand held drink blender) use this to get the pears thoroughly pureed.
8. Continue to cook in your pot, stirring occasionally to avoid burning. 
9. While the pears are cooking, cut up your remaining pears into large bite sized chunks.  The chunks will get a little smaller as they are cooking.  Add the chunks to the pot and continue cooking.
10. Add 6 teaspoons of strained lemon juice.  This will get the Ph where it needs to be.  I like to add about a  teaspoon of lemon zest as well.  I find the zest really brings out the flavor of the fruit.
11. Turn your pot of water on with your jars in it to sterilize them.
12. When your jars are sterilized your pear sauce will have cooked down.  If you want it thicker you can cook longer.  
13. Carefully remove jars, draining water into pot.  Drain one jar into a bowl with your lids to get your lids ready.
14. Ladle hot pear sauce into jars leaving a healthy half inch of head space.
15. Wipe rims of jars clean with clean cloth or paper towel.
16. Place hot lids on jars and screw rings on till finger tight. You don't want to crank them down because air will escape upon sealing.
17. Return to pot and process for 20 minute at boiling.
18. Remove jars to a towel on your counter and leave them alone for at least 10 hours.  
19. Check to see that the tops have pooped down after an hour.  If they don't seal, put them in the fridge to eat, or if there are a ton of them you can reprocess them.