Last week, a dear friend of mine blessed me with two large boxes full of pears. So, as you have probably guessed, I’ve been doing a lot of canning lately.

I wanted to shake up the monotony of plain pears in syrup and really surprise my family with something different. I added cinnamon sticks, cloves and vanilla to the syrup to really spice it up. I couldn’t stop “taste testing” these pears; they were so good!

This is a great recipe for cooking pears and contains an aromatic mixture of spices that will make the whole house smell like fall is finally here.

This is a hot pack method canning recipe, but it can easily be adapted to a oven baked dish.

Spiced Vanilla Pears

Makes 4 quarts

• 2 to 3 pounds pears per quart
• 7 cup sugar syrup (3 1/2 cups sugar with 6 cups filtered water)
• 4 cinnamon sticks
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 12 whole cloves
• 1/2 lemon, juiced

1. Sterilize jars, lids and rings.
2. In the meantime, core and peel pears and cut pears into quarters or halves.
3. In a 5 quart pot, over medium heat, make a light syrup and add the vanilla extract to the sugar mixture. Stir and keep syrup hot.
4. Add sliced pears and lemon juice to the hot syrup and cook for 5 to 6 minutes or until hot throughout.
5. Place a small piece of cinnamon bark (about a 1/2″ to 5/8″ piece) and 3-5 cloves in each hot jar.
6. Pack hot pears into hot jars leaving 1/2″ head space. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two piece caps. Process pints 20 minutes, quarts 25 minutes, in a boiling-water bath canner.