Equipment

• Many canning jars are on the market today, and any of them will work well for preserving pears. These options include half-pints, pints, and quart jars. It is important to never recycle commercial glass jars for canning. These jars can break or shatter when inserted into a hot water bath. Always use jars made specifically for canning. Only jars made specifically for canning may be re-used.
  
  Other necessary equipment for canning includes new metal vacuum lids and metal canning rings. Metal canning rings may be re-used when canning, unlike the vacuum lids and commercial jars. A pressure cooker, a canning funnel and canning tongs should be located before beginning the canning process.
  
  

Preparation

• It is important to prepare the jars and the fruit before placing the pears into the canning jars. Prepare the jars by cleaning them well with hot soapy water. Place the clean jars into a hot water bath for 10 minutes to sterilize them.
  
  Select pears that are ripe but firm. Any variety of pears can be canned. However, Bartlett pears, Orcas and El Dorado pears are the most commonly canned types.
  
  Wash the pears with cool water. Cut the pears into quarters. Remove the seeds, and peel the pears, if desired. Place the cut fruit into a bowl of water that contains 1 tbsp. of lemon juice to keep the pears from browning during the canning process.
  
  

Raw Pack and Hot Pack Canning

• The pears can be raw packed into the jars or hot packed into the jars. Raw packing is easily accomplished by packing the pears tightly into a prepared jar. The jar is bathed in a hot water bath.
  
  To hot pack pears, loosely place pears into the jar, and add boiling water over the tops of the pears. Boil the pears in a hot bath just as you would with the raw pack canning method.
  
  Leave enough space in the top of the jars for the liquid to expand during the canning process. Water should be added to just below the bottom of the neck of the jar.
  
  Pears can also be packed in white grape juice, apple juice and sugar water.