The Easiest Way to Can Pears in a Water Bath

Canning fruit at home is one of the best ways to preserve your haul, whether you bought it at the grocery store or grew it yourself. One of my very favorite canned fruits is pears….

They’re the perfect combination of convenience, sweetness, tenderness, and versatility. They are great right out of the jar and an easy inclusion in many recipes.

But pears have a reputation for being tricky to can because it’s easy to make them mushy or discolor them. Nobody wants that! Luckily, I’m here to help you with a detailed step-by-step guide on canning pears quickly and easily with a water bath, no pressure canner required!

Keep reading and I’ll tell you everything that you need to know.

Hot Pack or Raw Pack?

You should always hot pack pears for the best results. It’s possible to raw pack them, but the results are invariably disappointing. In the instructions below, I’ll be telling you how to hot pack pears properly for great taste and texture.

Is it Safe to Can Pears in a Water Bath?

Yes, it is. I know there’s a little bit of confusion about this out on the internet in some quarters because it’s possible to pressure can or water bath can pears. In terms of safety, many kinds of foods and specifically low-acid foods must be pressure canned for good results.

However, pears are not a low-acid food. You can safely can them using a water bath or pressure can them at your preference, but pressure canning usually leads to mushy pears that have an odd pinkish color when they are finished.

That’s just another reason why you should water bath can them! Even the NCHFP recommends it over pressure canning.

Supplies and Kitchen Tools

Canning pears is pretty straightforward. You’ll need the usual assortment of tools for water canning, and various things you’ve probably have in your kitchen. Gather all of the following and you’ll be ready to get going…

Pears: you can use any type of pears you want for this process, but you’ve got to pick only the best, ripest, unblemished fruit.

Substandard pears lead to a very poor finished product. You’ll also need a lot of them; if you are making a pint jar load you’ll need about 11 pounds, or 17 1/2 pounds for a quart jar load.

Water: you have to have water for filling the pot that you’ll use for the canning operation, and for making syrup to pack them with. For a pint jar load, you’ll need 5 ¾ cups of water, or 9 cups for a quart jar load.

Alternatively, you can use water alone for packing, though this will negatively impact the finished product’s flavor.

Sugar: sugar is the other necessary component for making the syrup we will use to pack the pears. Most pears already tend to be quite sweet, and so a light syrup usually works best. For a pint jar load, you’ll need 1 ½ cups of sugar, or 2 ¼ cups of sugar for a quart jar load.

Honey (optional): if you want to cut down on processed sugar in this recipe, you can replace up to half of the prescribed amount of sugar with honey. This is purely optional.

Juice, Apple or White Grape (optional): if you don’t want to go through the trouble of making syrup or don’t have the ingredients, apple or white grape juice can be used instead and adds some great flavor and dimension to your canned pears. Simply replace the amount of water called for with an equivalent amount of juice.

Ascorbic Acid: pears are notorious for darkening rapidly as soon as they are cut, and although this won’t hurt the quality or taste of the finished fruit it doesn’t look very appealing.

You can stop this from happening by dropping your cut pears into an ascorbic acid solution until you are ready to boil them. It’s available in powdered form anywhere canning supplies are sold.

Canning Rack: a canning rack is what you need to safely and successfully water bath can food. This specialized rack keeps jars from clattering into each other or into the bottom or sides of the pot during processing, something which can lead to breakage.

Any type you have will work, but I strongly recommend you get one with built-in handles to make loading and unloading all jars at once easier.

Jar Tongs: jar tongs, also known as a jar lifter, can be used to load and unload jars individually from the pot without burning the daylights out of yourself. Not strictly needed if your rack is easily removable when loaded, but always handy to have.

Canning Jars: any kind of canning jars you prefer will work for this process. Choose pint or quart sizes for the following procedure. Whether they are new or old, check over all of your jars for damage.

Look for chips, cracks, and other defects which could cause seal failure or even breakage during processing. If you have any doubts about a particular jar, don’t use it!

Lids, New: for any jars that don’t have an attached, reusable lid you’ll need to use a brand new lid. Never, ever reuse single-use lids because they will almost always fail.

Bands: jar bands that are sized for your jars, assuming the jars don’t have attached, reusable lids. Unlike the lids that we talked about above, you can reuse bands as long as they aren’t damaged in any way. If they are twisted, dented, or rusty, don’t use them.

Funnel: a specialized canning funnel will help you load the jars without making a mess and, more importantly, without getting stuff all over the rims. Contaminated rims can cause a seal failure.

Bubble Tool: a bubble tool or debubbler is used to eliminate trapped pockets of air prior to capping the jars. You can buy a specific tool for this purpose, or use something long and thin like a skewer or chopstick.

Pot, Large: a large pot that will hold your canning rack is a necessity. Make sure it’s tall enough to allow the jars inside to be completely covered with water.

Saucepan, Large: you’ll prepare the syrup, juice, or water for boiling and packing your pears in this saucepan.

Bowl, Large: a large bowl of any kind will work for holding your ascorbic acid solution. Make sure it’s large enough to hold a full load of pears; you don’t want any left out because they will brown!

Kitchen Knife: all of your pears need to be stemmed, cored, and split in half for this procedure. A kitchen knife works wonderfully, but a stout paring knife will also do the job.

Peeler: peeling pears with a knife is laborious, slow, and aggravating. Grab a fruit or veggie peeler to make easy work of it.

Melon Baller (optional): the very best thing you can have for popping the core out of a pear easily. Again, not strictly necessary. If you don’t have a melon baller, use a soup spoon with a twist of the wrist for the same job. Not as easy, but works.

Cutting Board: you’ll need a cutting board both for preparing the pears and also for keeping your counter safe from hot jars during the packing and cooling process. This can be wood or heat-safe plastic, but not stone or metal. I’ll explain why later…

Cooking Spoon: a slotted spoon will help stir the pears during boiling and get them into the jars.

Towels/Rags: no matter how careful you are, messes will happen. Be ready to clean them up with paper towels or clean kitchen rags. These are also needed to wipe off jar rims prior to putting the lids on.

Cooking Timer: precise timing is a must for all canning operations, this one included. Use any timer you want, be it your phone, stovetop clock, or a standalone kitchen timer.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Before you get started with these steps, read over all of them. A few are time-sensitive where you’ll need to move quickly, and it’s best to know what you need to do ahead of time to speed up the process.

Step 1: Wash all of your tools. Cleanliness is critical with canning. Anything that isn’t perfectly clean, coming into contact with your pears or jars, could cause spoilage.

Wash everything—utensils, containers, and cookware—in hot soapy water or run it through a hot cycle in the dishwasher just before you get started.

Step 2: Prepare ascorbic acid solution. Follow the instructions that came with the packet, but if you’re working with pure ascorbic acid powder, the ratio is 3 grams to one gallon of cold water. Stir to dissolve, then set aside.

Step 3: Wash and peel pears. Thoroughly wash your pears under room temperature water, taking care to remove all dust and residue. Once they are washed, peel them using your knife or peeler. Discard the peels.

Step 4: Slice and core pears, drop in ascorbic acid solution. Cut your pears in half, discard the stems, and use your spoon or melon baller to scoop out the cores.

Make sure you get all of the seeds out. Drop the pears into the ascorbic acid bath as you go. Discard the seeds, cores, and stems.

Step 5: Fill large pot, pre-heat jars. Load your canning rack with the jars, place it into the pot, and then fill the pot with enough water to cover the jars by a couple of inches. Turn up the heat and bring the water to a gentle boil. Move on as the water is heating up.

Step 6: Prepare syrup or heat juice in saucepan. If you are making syrup for packing your pears, it’s time to make it in the saucepan.

The following will make a good light syrup that is perfect for pears; if you’re making a pint jar load, add 5 3/4 cups water and 1 1/2 cups sugar. For a quart load, use 9 cups of water and 2 1/4 cups of sugar.

If you are using juice or water, add it to the saucepan now. Turn up the heat to bring the liquid to a boil.

Step 7: Boil pears. Once the liquid starts to boil, drain your pears and carefully add them to the hot liquid. We will let them boil for 5 minutes whether we are using syrup, juice, or just water. As soon as you drop the pears in, move on to get your jars ready but keep an eye on the time.

Step 8: Remove jars, set aside. Once the pears go into the liquid, remove the hot, empty jars from the pot.

Lift out the canning rack carefully if it has handles, or use your jar tongs to pull them out one by one. Set the jars, mouth up, on a clean cutting board or towel to protect your countertop.

Step 9: Use funnel and pack jars with pears. Once the pears have boiled for 5 minutes, cut the heat to the pan and use your cooking spoon and funnel to add the pear pieces to each jar, leaving a half inch of headspace or a little more.

Step 10: Cover pears with liquid. Once you’ve added the pear pieces, carefully pour the hot liquid into each jar, leaving half an inch of headspace and making sure to cover the pears.

Swirl each jar quickly but gently with your de-bubbling tool to eliminate trapped air pockets.

Step 11: Cap jars with lids, screw down bands. Use a clean paper towel to wipe off the rims of the jars, then place a lid and a band on each, screwing down the bands until they are snug and hand tight. Do not over-tighten the bands!

Step 12: Load jars onto rack. Place the jars back onto the rack and lower them into the water, or use your jar lifters to replace each jar on the rack individually.

Whichever way, take great care to keep the jars perfectly upright and avoid sloshing the contents inside against the lid; this can result in seal failure.

Step 13: Bring water in pot to boil, set timer. Once the jars are on the rack and back inside the water bath, turn the heat up if needed to bring it back to a rolling boil. Once it’s at a boil, set your timer accordingly.

If you are canning pint jars at sea level or up to 1,000 ft in elevation, set the timer for 20 minutes. Between 1,001 and 3,000 ft in elevation, set the timer for 25 minutes. Between 3,001 and 6,000 ft, 30 minutes and above 6,000 ft, 35 minutes. Add 5 minutes to any time above if you are using quart jars.

Step 14: Process jars. Stay nearby and keep an eye on the canning process to make sure the water stays at a boil the entire time.

Step 15: Turn off heat when processing finished. Once the timer goes off, turn off the heat to the pot. Don’t remove the jars yet.

Step 16: Rest jars. Let the jars sit, or rest, in the pot for 8 to 10 minutes with the heat off.

Step 17: Remove jars and allow to cool completely. Once the jars have rested, carefully remove the rack or lift the jars out one by one using your tongs. Again, be very careful to avoid tilting the jars or sloshing the contents around.

Carefully place the jars on a clean wood or plastic cutting board on your counter, and keep them away from windows or doors or any other drafts.

If you put them on a metal or stone surface, or expose them to a draft, they can crack or shatter. Leave the jars to cool completely, at least 12 hours.

Step 18: Check lids for seal integrity. Once the jars have cooled completely down to room temperature, check the seals to make sure they are good.

Press on the lid with a finger. It should not flex, pop, or move. If it’s good, carefully remove the band and then lift the jar up just off the counter holding the lid by the edge.

You shouldn’t hear any hissing, and the lid should not pop or move. If it passes both tests, the jar is good. Set aside jars that fail and we will deal with them later.

Step 19: Wipe off jars and store. Use a clean, moistened cloth or paper towel and wipe down all of the jars prior to storing them. Stick them in a cool, dark place that’s protected from temperature extremes.

Step 20: All done! And with that, you are finished. You’ve got delicious canned pears to look forward to for quite a while!

Dealing with Failed Lid Test

For any jars that failed the lid test, know that they aren’t bad necessarily; it just means they’re not going to store long term.

So, make a choice: you can open them up right away, eat them, and enjoy. They will taste great! Alternately, they’ll keep in the fridge for 3 or 4 days.

Your other option is to pour them into a fresh, clean jar and, using a brand new lid, process them again. If they pass the lid test afterward, they will keep but you should know that reprocessing them will make them a lot softer.

Whatever you do, don’t just stick a jar with a failed lid in with the others because they will spoil!

Storage Life of Home-Canned Pears

Your pears will last for about a year in the pantry as long as you can keep them very cool (50° F to 60° F – that’s 10 °C to 15 °C), protected from sunlight and safe from fluctuating temperatures. Higher temperatures dramatically shorten their storage life!