Red Hot (or Hot Tamale) Canned Pear Recipe

I associate pears made this way with my grandmother, who strangely did not cook a whole lot, but liked to make these pears. She probably used a more traditional method, involving putting a few Red Hots (tiny, hard, red, cinnamon sugar candies) into the bottom of each jar before filling with pear chunks and hot light syrup. Such pears come out a bit more pale and a bit less “red hot” than ours.

The USDA prefers the hot-pack method of canning, which is what we are doing when we warm the pears in the syrup before packing them into hot jars. If you’re also canning your red hot pears, the processing time in a boiling-water canning bath is 20 minutes.

Make these far enough in advance that they can sit in the jar for a month or two before you want to eat them.

Makes enough for 2 pint jars or 1 quart jar, roughly.

Equipment:
• two pint-size jars
• peeler
• medium to large saucepan

Ingredients:
3 ea pears local is best; bosc or bartlett
2 c water
3/4 - 1 cup Red Hots we substituted Hot Tamales
1-2 Tbsp liquor Grand Marinier, whiskey, brandy (optional)

Procedure:
1. Place the Red Hots in the saucepan along with the water and bring to a boil, to make a syrup.
2. Wash and peel the pears.
3. Cut the pears in half and remove their seeds and vestigial cores.
4. Cut the pears down as far as desired: quarters, eighths, chunks.
5. Once the syrup is simmering, add the pear pieces.
6. Allow the pears to warm in the syrup.
7. Once the syrup starts to simmer again, turn the heat off.
8. If canning, transfer hot pear and syrup to prepared canning jars and process.
9. Otherwise, allow the pears to cool to room temperature, then place into sealed containers and store in the fridge until ready to use.

[TheOpenminded]

Thanks for the recipe! I wasn't sure if I could use the tamales in place of the red hots.

[RetiredSchoolCook]

LOOKING GOOD AND TASTY GREAT RECIPE THANK YOU