<p>Istomuch -
I noticed your reference to asian pears on the care package thread. Any tips on drying them? I have at least a couple hundred pounds on my tree the year - most will go to cider but drying them sounds like fun.</p>
<p>Do them just like apples. Too thin slices makes fruit to brittle and too thick takes long to dry, But its really not that critical. Use a dryer with a fan, at high heat. Rotate trays so that all trays will dry at same time. We have Excalibur & Harvest Maid dryers found at Garage Sales-Goodwill. Vacuum pack into bags or into jars, Some years the pears have an excessive amount of “stone” cells that give the pears too much grittiness. 6-7 lbs (approx 1 dryer load) of fruit yields 1 lb finished fruit. Its alot of work. </p>
<p>Alternative ways for excessive fruit is to make a relish or various types chutney. Straight fruit Canning (mason) is easy also. The fresh pears should easily keep into Nov if handled well and into March if refrigerated, so you can process at a converient time. </p>
<p>Cider and pear vinegar sounds good and probably the better way to quickly process the fruit. Do you use a press do you use a juicer?</p>
<p>We have access to a press - one of our friends borrowed it from a partner in his family practice, with the suggestion (from his wife) that it will not be returned. Last year, our families did 19 gallons of cider (mixed apple-pear with some crabapples), 12 of which were bottled for hard cider. Our carboy capacity will be greater this year, and we have alread done a short run of 5 gallons with the barlett pears and some early apples. Major production is schedule for this Sunday. We will be missing our son (now at UChicago) and his strong arm as we haven’t motorized the press as yet. Will be picking early to let the fruit set for a few days before processing. </p>
<p>I do chutneys, conserves, jellies and jams as well as as water-bath canning (need to do the seckle pears this week - should also do a batch of ginger pears). I will search the house-sale ads for a dryer as you suggested (or maybe borrow one from our friend with the press!). Glad to run into another canner on line!</p>