Harvesting a pear for the winter correctly
How close winter is, so the question is - what to do with a large amount of harvest. It is not always possible to realize it before the onset of severe cold and frost - what then can be done so that the fruits do not disappear, wither and rot? That's right, the pear needs to be harvested.
Ideal for harvesting fruits such as pears. Consider the methods and algorithm, how exactly this tasty, and most importantly useful fruit can be harvested for the winter season.
Pear is characterized by a high content of sugars, pectin and aromatic substances, as well as mineral salts, vitamins, acids of organic origin. In a word - a whole storehouse of biologically active substances, therefore, a pear is often subjected to special processing and subsequent harvesting in such a way that later it does not lose more than half of its properties when it was fresh.
Southern pear varieties contain about 20% sugar, 0.5% acids, so they are valued more than local varieties, which undoubtedly lose in these values due to the climate. It should be noted that the content of vitamin C in pears is noted as low, but in terms of the content of catechins, pears are practically not inferior to apples. Abutin content was also determined in pear varieties grown in the Urals and Siberia.
It is quite possible to make jams, compotes, juices, and even candied fruits from pears. The types of processing can be called soaking, pickling, drying.
For the preparation of pear jam, as a rule, hard and slightly unripe fruits are taken, since, on the contrary, overripe, the pulp of which is soft and tender, are not suitable for this. The calibrated fruits are washed, peeled, followed by cutting into slices, it is imperative to remove the seed chambers. Then the fruits are subjected to a blanching process, maintaining a water temperature of about 80 degrees for 5 to 7 minutes on average. The syrup is prepared in proportions of about 400 grams of water per 1 kilogram of fruit and, accordingly, 1-1.2 kilograms of sugar. Prepared fruits should be immersed in syrup and cooked until fully cooked, which is determined by the transparency of the digested fruits. At the very end of cooking, for varieties with a bland taste, add about 4 grams of citric acid to improve the quality of the final product.
You can also make jam from small pears if you grow just such varieties in your garden. In this case, small pears should be cooked whole, having previously also been blanched in boiling water for about 10 minutes, followed by dipping into syrup, which should also boil. The jam should be cooked, usually in 2 or 3 doses, allowing the pears to rest for about 2 hours between stages.
You can also surprise your family and friends and cook candied fruits. For them, the fruits are prepared in the same way as in the case of jam. At the final stage of cooking, the syrup should be drained, and the pears should be thrown into a colander to separate excess liquid. The prepared cooked slices should be dried at a high temperature in an oven or oven, and then sprinkled with granulated sugar or, if desired, powdered sugar. Do not pour out the excess of the remaining syrup, because it is also quite possible to cook the next part of the pears for jam in it.
But making jam, dispensing only with pears, seems already extremely difficult due to the fact that in its composition the fruit is characterized by a low content of gelling or pectin substances.How to be? In this case, apples come to the rescue, namely apple juice, which can compensate for this deficiency and help the pear in the gelling process. In the process of cooking the syrup, apple juice is placed instead of water at the rate of about 200 grams per 1 kilogram of fruit, the amount of sugar does not change. When boiling, the fruits are immersed in syrup in the same way and boiled until fully cooked. Guided by this method, using the gelling properties of an apple, you can also prepare jam, marmalade, and even all kinds of sauces - it all depends on your desire and imagination.
Pears are also used to make compote - it turns out to be very tasty both hot and cold. For cooking, unripe varieties left over from the summer are suitable. They should be blanched in boiling water for a couple of minutes. If the variety has a rough skin structure and is hard enough, it is recommended to clean it immediately before the procedure. Large fruits should be cut into slices, therefore, small specimens are allowed to be used entirely. In order to prevent the flesh from darkening, after removing the seed chambers, they are immersed in water until the start of cooking. Prepared fruits should be tightly packed in jars, filled with heated syrup at the rate of 200 grams of sugar per 1 liter of water, then subjected to the pasteurization process while boiling. If a can with a capacity of 1 liter, then it should be pasteurized for no more than 12 minutes, while pasteurization of a three-liter can is allowed with a value of 20 minutes.
Pear is a particularly healthy and nutritious fruit, distinguished by its pleasant taste, easy digestibility, as well as a general beneficial effect on the human body. Having worked a lot on the garden plot, you should properly prepare for the cold weather - do you want all your labors and fruits accumulated during the warm season to be offensively lost? Harvest, show your imagination and do not be lazy - but you will always have fresh and tasty, and most importantly, natural homemade products in your bins!