Peach & Pear Butter

Fruit butters are some of the nicest things to eat. They have a beautiful smooth, spreadable texture, and the long cooking process caramelizes the sugars and brings out deeper flavours hiding in the fruit. Technique wise it’s kind of between making a jam and making caramel. As it cooks, you can see the texture become finer, more translucent and glossy. The colour goes from a light grey-brown to a beautiful deep caramel. Fruit butter takes patience, and a gentle hand, but it’s such a unique taste, and really nice on hot buttery biscuits, or even on top of a pork chop. Oh baby.

I bought a case of fruit just about to go off from the fruit market for $3, so the cost for this project was minimal.

Yield: 1 litre
Time: 2 - 2 1/2 hours
Cost: $

Hardware
- large, heavy bottomed pot
- wooden spoon
- fine mesh seive
- thermometer (optional)
- small plate waiting for you in the freezer (optional)
- jars with resealable, enough to fit 1 litre

Software
- 10 ripe pears
- 10 ripe peaches
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- vanilla Bean (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
++ You can add ginger, whiskey or cinnamon if you’d like