Call us weird; we actually like pears even more than peaches - and we're pretty fond of peaches. Pears are special! We were invited to go pear picking with friends, (thank you!) and brought home about 80 pounds.
Bartlett pears are picked green, and ripen best off the tree. I arrange them in single layers in boxes in the basement and check on them every day.
These took about a week to ripen, and today a whole bin full was ready to eat! Green Bartlett are ripe when they turn a light yellowish tint and smell fragrantly of pear. When they're unripe, they don't have much aroma. The smell is more indicative of ripeness than the color, but usually both are present.
Of course, nobody can eat that many pears without serious gastric consequences… so we dehydrate most of them and save them for later.
We wash them thoroughly with homemade veggie wash, then cut, core and quarter. That's it! No peeling, no lemon juice or anything; they go straight into the dehydrators as is.
I had a good helper today.
Three dehydrators and thirteen trays later, we are caught up until the next batch ripens up - probably tomorrow.
These will dry at 135° for a full 36-48 hours, until they are chewy. Then we'll vacuum seal them and put them in the freezer. They aren't dry enough to be shelf stable at that point; they'd have to be dry enough to break and not bend to be stored in the pantry. We like them with a bit of chew, especially in trail mix, so they live in the freezer and will be ok on the counter for a few days when we are ready to eat them.
These have been in the dryer for about six hours, and while they've browned a bit, it's about the same amount they would even if they'd been dipped in lemon juice. Commercial dehydrators use sulfur to keep them bright and white; I'm not sure that's entirely healthy, and it does change the flavor. So we just stick with au naturale.
Are they any good? Well… One of my friends asked for my dried pears for Christmas. So I guess they pass muster.
