It has been quite the quest to get things in jars!  Fruit, herbs, jams, jellies and general food sunshine to see me though the icy cold Alberta winter.  My cupboards are now full of delights with charming hand written labels.  It is a good feeling after so much work.

Here is a little pear treat that is now stored ready to be spooned greedily over vanilla ice cream, or I even added a few to the cranberry sauce that helped my turkey along on Thanksgiving- delicious!

SPICED WHISKY PEARS

INGREDIENTS

• Pears – cleaned and quartered, core removed.  I cut them and placed them into some water with lemon juice in to stop them browning.
• Light Syrup- 1 cup of sugar to 6 cups of water
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 cloves
• Good slug of whisky

METHOD

1. Add the sugar, water, cinnamon and cloves to a large pan and bring up to a gentle boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, add the slug of whisky
2. Carefully place pear slices in the syrup.  Cook gently for 5 minutes
3. While still hot, add pears to clean, sterile pint jars.  Top with syrup and gently move jar to release any air bubbles- I made sure each jar got a clove
4. Add liquid to leave a 1/2 inch headspace.
5. Process pints for 20 minutes in a hot-water bath.