The one on the right photo is an Asian pear and is probably the Housi type. These hold up very well when refrigerated, and can last up to 6 months. They have a very juicy inside and are crisper than apples. The ones on the left I am not familiar with, but they may also be another Asian pear type. I have three different Asian pear trees and the biggest one bore fruits like that on the right side. Because they are quite sweet, they probably don't have a lot of acid in them. Canning might be fine, but they do have a slightly gritty texture, common to some regular pear types. Canning might be OK, but once cooked will soften quite a bit. The nice thing about them is they need no bug sprays or fungicides and are quite resistant to most any kind of fruit tree issues, due to the russeted skins. Mine are planted close together so that they can pollinate better. This year, even though they had a few flowers, there was no fruits. I had manually pollinated them. Last year, I had about the same amount of flowers, but the manual pollination created two nice big pears. They ripen about now in Z6. Because they last so long in refrigerated storage, I would only try to can about half of them, and save the rest for eating. To can, use apple juice and/or pear necter as a syrup.

Here's basic preserving information on canning Asian pears from Oregon State Extension. This document is more recent than the one on the NCHFP site.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Preserving Asian Pears

Many thanks for the link, Carol! I see that they are different varieties of Asian Pears. Google is, once again, my friend. :-)

I like your suggestion to use apple juice or pear nectar, Ken - which do you prefer with Asian pears?

Any other suggestions? These are so mild flavored, I am concerned that a simple light syrup may be too bland.

Can they be used like European pears for pear sauce, etc., as long as one adds the correct amount of acid?

Thanks again to you all!

Has anyone tried the Pears Exotica variation in the Ball Complete Book? It's on page 145 of mine. I am assuming I would still need to add the 2T. lemon juice per quart for asian pears. This recipe sounds intriguing to me.

The link is to the same (or very similar) recipe on a Canadian canning site.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pears Exotica

I'm guessing there's sufficient acid in that recipe to make the additional lemon juice unnecessary.

However, that's only a guess. This would be a good question to email Dr. Andress about. She's usually very quick to reply and since Asian pears keep so well, there should be at least a little leeway before you need to can them. Then, if you don't hear from her, you could go ahead and can with the additional lemon juice. That's definitely the most conservative approach.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP Contact Page

I would still add the bottled lemon juice to each jar since the recipe has the correct amount added for regular pears, not Asian pears. I really don't think the additional bottled lemon juice would affect the final flavor.

Thanks so much to all who responded! Since my stepdaughter has promised me more pears, I think I'll have to try several different recipes - I'll just start out with the added lemon juice as the baseline. Fortunately, I really like lemon. :-)

I've canned my 'Korean Giant' pears many times, using the standard canned pears in simple syrup recipe from the Ball Blue Book. works just fine. They are a little bit firmer than my Bartlets turn out. My brother in law says he likes the Asians better.

To add acid but not any flavor, use citric. Bottled lemon juice to me is awful tasting. Ever make lemonaide from it? If so, you can realize its not very tasty. These pears are very delicate in flavor so you don't want to mask it with other strong flavors. Keep it simple! Even a sugar water syrup with ascorbic and citric will work well. Or, if you can find a pear wine or liquour it would also add some nice flavor and not destroy the taste of the pears.

Good point about using citric acid, Ken - I still have some and I think I will take your advice. I presume that the ascorbic (which I also have) is to keep them from browning?

I think I will go with a simple syrup, but I really like the thought of using pear wine. I had thought that perhaps a lighter mead would be good.

Give it a try.. Make small batches of syrup, all with added acid, and use mead, and other complimentary juices for a couple of jars of each.