Sweet pear preserves might turn you obsessed this season. This easy to prepare homemade pear jam recipe, with vanilla and without pectin, is my favorite winter jam.
You can make this pear preserves and use it in so many ways. Read about it’s uses and get the detailed step by step picture recipe below.
The time might be right for you to let go after a long day at work. You come home, have dinner and then decide you need a treat as a motivation helper.
You just want to enjoy, be in the now and this can be achieved with a few spoonfuls of jam preserve mixed in some fresh yogurt.
The traces of vanilla infused pear jam mixing up into your creamy fresh yogurt will definitely make you forget everything that happened in the last hours. The pear preserves is that insanely good!
The aromatic preserve is a little delicacy which you have earned yourself. Either in the way I just overly exaggeratedly described, or you might consider helping your moody self in the morning by spreading some pear jam with vanilla flavor over your slice of bread.
Pear preserve is a useful way of storing all the fruity goodness past the winter season. I add a Vanilla bean for each kilogram of fruit to this recipe.
Jam setting temperature is 105 Celsius/220 Fahrenheit. Test if Jam is running by adding a drop of hot jam on a cold plate or spoon (kept in the freezer). The jam is ready when it’s not running. Keep in mind that jam tends to look liquid when hot, it gets harder when it cools.
The Vanilla bean added in the cooking process is dark brown and still soft, it features a deep bourbon vanilla flavor.
I believe these vanilla beans literally reflect the state’s character where it got to grow carefully over years. In that particular case the Eco vanilla bean hailed from Kerala, South India.
I use firm and juicy William pears for this jam, which are perfect for preserves.
My pear jam preserve consists only of three ingredients and is made without pectin. It’s more natural that way and you can store it for months without issues. The non-inclusion of water helps in preserving jam much longer.
Just make sure that you follow my tip with the alcohol drop in the jam cap. This helps in preserving it in the long run. Keep your sealed glass of jam in a dry, dark and cool place. Store the opened pear preserve jar always in the fridge!
Jam making tools:
- Jam making pot
- wooden spoon with a long handle
- thermometer
- sterilized Mason Jars with lids
- funnel
- labels
- jar tongs
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Easy Pear Preserves – Pear Jam Recipe with Vanilla & without Pectin below:
- 1 Kilogram peeled and cut into chunks fresh William Pears - about 4¼ cups or 35.2oz or similar pear variety
- 750 grams regular Sugar - about 3¼ cups or 26.5oz
- 1 Vanilla Bean
- Peel, quarter and cut the pears into chunks. Place the fruit pieces into a big jam cooking pot and add in the sugar. Slit open a vanilla bean and scratch out with a butter knife or small spoon the vanilla bean paste of small black spots. Add the paste and the whole vanilla bean to the pot with the other ingredients and mix it all well.
- Keep the pot with the fruits on the stove, cook on slow heat for about 45 mins, while stirring frequently, until you can see a rolling boil (lots of foam too!). At that point the jam should be ready and you can take it from the heat. Test if the jam is set by dropping a drop of the preserve on a cold spoon, the jam is ready if it doesn't run. If it runs, keep the jam for some more time to cook on low heat and repeat the test until you have the correct consistency.
- Then smash the fruit pieces with a masher or hand blender. I like to keep a few fruit pieces to give the jam some character. Fill the jam into clean jars.
- You need to place a few drops of rum or vodka into the clean jar lids so to kill any germs. This will help the jam to preserve for a longer period. Once sealed, turn the jars up side down, keep them that way for a few hours. Then store the pear preserves in a cool, dry and dark place. Store the unsealed preserves in the fridge!
More Winter Jams 🍯
More Vanilla flavors:
Dear Reader, how will you enjoy this pear preserves?
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Oh my gosh I love this! I first discovered pear preserves in Germany when we were staying with a host family. They had a few varieties, one with added ginger which I’ve been craving ever since! I can’t wait to try this, then experiment with ginger too. Thanks so much for sharing!
I’d have to call your preserves both elegant and gourmet! Sounds and looks delicious.
This is absolutely gorgeous and I love the combination of pear and vanilla – Wowza!
Every summer my mom and I get together and make a huge batch of preserves. I can’t wait to share this recipe with her and possibly arrange a fall fruit preserve-making session!
Luci’s Morsels | fashion. food. frivolity.
Three ingredients and no pectin, I will be trying this recipe for sure. I do love no fuss and easy. Love how the vanilla bean adds that depth of colour, it would add a nice depth of flavour too.
You sure make a beautiful jar of jam Helene! Love the addition of the vanilla bean in the pear jam! Need to find some local pears. I’d love to taste this. Thanks and welcome back!
The fruit preserve looks awesome, I have made something similar with apples, would love to try this soon..
This looks awesome and I love that you made this without using any pectin.
I miss a lot of the fruit I used to get in Goa, but I do get a good variety of pears. I also love making my own jam, so I must try this next.
I always make jams without pectin. Now I’ve got some pectin to make jams as I wanted to give a try to test whether the store bought will be obtained exactly. Rum/vodka on lid is a very good tip and haven’t heard about it . Thanks for sharing it.
Do you need to cool the jam/preserves before you put them in the jars and put the jar upside down?
Hi Paige,
No you don’t need to let the jam cool. Just pour the hot jam into the jars and seal well as explained in the recipe instructions.
I love the idea of pear and vanilla but vanilla bean is hard for me to find. Can I substitute vanilla extract?
Yes you can substitute with a few drops of vanilla extract. 🙂
Pear and vanilla is such a fantastic combination! Love that it only has three ingredients too. A must try!
Lately, I have been visiting a lot of different homestyle breakfast joints that have amazing homemade jams. I have been meaning to try to buy some but now that I found this recipe, I think I’m going to make it instead! 🙂 I love how its not the traditional berries jam too! Thank you for this! 🙂
My mom is a master of homemade jams and preserves but I never really make them. So whenever I see someone else’s homemade fruit preserves my cravings (and longings for home) go through the roof!
OMG Helene that sounds DIVINE!!! I’m pinning this and will keep my fingers tightly crossed that by having taken that much action, a jar of it will magically appear in my fridge 😀
Jane x
This sounds a fab preserve to make for gifting, simple, but totally yummy. Loving the pear and vanilla combination.
I LOVE this recipe. I’m so excited pears are in season because I need to make this and eat this ASAP 🙂
I love preserves. I make my own bread and having a simple piece of toast with pb and this kind of fruit sweetness is so so wonderful. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve never made jam before! It doesn’t look super hard though, and I LOOOOVE pears!
These pear preserves look delicious! We have a pear tree and I never know what to do with all of the excess fruit and for some reason, I have never thought of making jam! What a great idea! I’ve printed out your recipe and will try it next spring when I have loads of pears!
This sounds amazing! Absolutely love pears around this time of year. Definitely will need to try this recipe!
This is perfect, I have a pear tree and regularly have too many pears, if that’s even possible. Saving for next Summer!
I haven’t made jam in so long and I’m desperate to try this, hopefully with some free time coming up in December!
I love the idea of adding vanilla to pear preserves! Also, at first glance I thought the title of this recipe said “Pearl Jam,” and I was wondering what a band had to do with a recipe. 🙂
I was just thinking the other day of making some pear butter or preserves, now that I’ve stumbled upon your recipe, I must!
This looks delicious! And much better than any store-bought version. My mom would love this recipe
The vanilla sounds so good!
This looks so good! I love pears but never use them enough during the short fall pear season. What a good way to help the flavor last all winter long.
I learned something from your article that I’ve never thought about before. . I am a big apple person and bake with them quite often. I didn’t realize that just like apples, pears have varieties that are best suited for baking. Makes perfect sense though. I loved your idea of putting the pear preserves in yogurt, that sounds absolutely delicious !
Taking ages to reach 105 c using an open jam pan, Wondering if I should mash it and then continue to bring it up to temp?
Smells good!
Yeah, you can mash it too and then continue to bring it up to the temp. Did you use a copper open jam pan (because copper can cook the jam more evenly, hence the temperature increases more easily too)? My mum has a copper pan, I use stainless steel and at times I just tend to increase the heat a bit to speed up the process. As long as you can see the jam cooking slowly and not bubbling like crazy after the first rolling boil, you are good. Even if it takes it’s time it’s ok you know. My mum has a wood oven and sometimes the wood pieces aren’t the best and the cooking time is prolonged to two hours. The result is the same anyhow. 🙂 Enjoy your pear jam!
Don’t know what I did wrong. I followed the instr. and my jam is the consistency of hard silicone. I can barely pull the knife out of jar!
Hi Heather, I think you overcooked the Jam. Don’t worry, we have all been there. Did you try the setting test with a cold plate or cold spoon? A thermometer can be useful as well to reach the perfect setting temperature.
QUICK FIX for hard overcooked jam: Take your jam back to the pot add a small quantity of boiling water to it., mix and watch your jam getting soft again. Heat it up to kill germs. Take it back the clean sterilized jars as described in the recipe. Try to use your jam within a few months and keep it stored in the fridge because we have added water to it afterward.
When the jam is still hot, it appears super thin, but once it cools you can see that it’s actually ready and set. That’s when the cold plate test is required because you drop hot jam on the ice cold plate and that reduces the temperature of the jam instantly.
I hope your pear jam tastes great at least 🙂