Vanilla Bean Pear Jam

Last week I had a bunch of ripe pears and as I searched the internet I was inspired by the Food in Jars blog to make her Pear Vanilla Jam. This is delicious! My kids ate an entire jar with toast in one sitting.

Vanilla Bean Pear Jam

Ingredients

8 cups pitted, chopped Bartlett pears (or any smooth, thin-skinned pear as there’s no need to peel. *If you have thick-skinned pears as I did use a potato peeler to peel the pears.)
3 Tablespoons lemon juice (lemon juice prevents browning)

2 vanilla beans, split and scraped
4 cups sugar
1 packet pectin

1. In a large pot combine chopped pears, lemon juice, sugar and vanilla beans (including the insides of the scraped beans). Cook over medium heat until the fruit can easily be smashed with the back of a wooden spoon. Use a potato masher, immersion blender, or transfer to a standing blender to pulse a few times and break the fruit down into a mostly-smooth sauce (remove the vanilla bean solids before blending). I like it slightly chunky so I made sure not to blend it too much.
2. Add the pectin and bring to a rolling boil. Let boil for a full five minutes in order to activate the pectin.
3. Fill sanitized jam jars, wipe rims to remove any residual jam, apply lids (heat canning lids in a small pot over very low heat while you’re preparing the jam to ensure a good seal) and screw on the rims.
4. Process the filled jars in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes (start the timer when the pot has returned to a boil). When the time has elapsed, remove jars from pot and place the jars on a towel-lined countertop. Let them cool undisturbed for at least two hours. During this time, the lids should seal. After it has thoroughly cooled check to ensure the jars have sealed by pushing down on the center of the lid.  

Yield: 7 half-pint jars

Original recipe found on Food in Jars website with slight alterations on my part.

**My Notes: This jam has almost a syrup consistency. The pectin recipe for cooked jam found on SURE-Jell by Kraft calls for 4 cups of fruit to 5 cups of sugar and states that in order to get a good gel this is the amount of sugar needed. I wanted less sugar and this recipe with less sugar is definitely sweet but also has runny in texture.