Pear Vanilla Jam with Honey

Makes 5-6 pints

Ingredients

6 pounds ripe thin skinned pears (like Bartlett or Bosc)
3 cups honey divided
2 vanilla beans split and scraped
2 lemons zested and juiced
2 tablespoons calcium water
2 tablespoons Pomona’s Pectin powder

Instructions

Prepare a boiling water bath canner and enough jars to hold 5-6 pints of jam (the yield varies depending on how much water the pears contain).
Wash, core and chop pears. Place them in a low, wide pan and add 1/2 cup water, 2 cups honey, vanilla seeds and beans, the lemon zest and juice, and the calcium water. Stir to combine and place on the stove. Set the burner to medium-high heat and cover the pot.
Cook the pears, stirring regularly, until they are soft. This should take 35-40 minutes.
Once the pears are tender, grab a potato masher and break them down into a chunky sauce. Whisk the pectin powder into the remaining cup of honey. Bring the pears up to a simmer and stir in the pectin-spiked honey.
Cook, stirring constantly, for 1-2 minutes, until the jam begins to thicken. Once it is thickening, remove the pan from the heat. Funnel jam into prepared jars. Wipe rims, apply lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes.
When time is up, remove jars from canner and set them to cool on a folded kitchen towel.
Sealed jars are shelf stable for up to a year.
Unsealed jars should be refrigerated and eaten within 2-3 weeks.

Recipe Notes

You'll note that this recipe calls for calcium water. Calcium water is a solution you make with water and the monocalcium phosphate powder (food-grade rock mineral source) that comes in its own packet with every purchase of Pomona’s Pectin. The Pomona’s Pectin directions tell you how to make calcium water with the calcium powder. Pomona’s Pectin recipes call for calcium water because the pectin is activated by calcium, not by sugar. For more information about calcium water, please visit the FAQ page of the Pomona’s Pectin website.