Sand Pear Chutney

I was so excited to find out that my friend Kristi's Grandfather has two huge Sand Pear Trees in his yard in Lake Mary which is the next little town over from Longwood.   This is the only variety that grows in Central Florida and is similar to an Asian Pear, but has a lovely grain to it and is bursting with pear flavor.  She has brought me about 50 pounds of them so far, and I developed this recipe to make a delightful chutney that pairs beautifully with cheese, pork, fish or chicken.  This recipe was inspired by one that I found in one of my favorite books called Small-Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp & Margaret Howard. The prep time on this is about 45 minutes and the cooking time is about 60 to 75  minutes.

Ingredients

6 lbs Peeled and Chopped Pears (1/4 inch cubes)

2 lbs Chopped Tomatoes (I used Plum, grape would be nice too)

2 lbs Chopped Peaches

1 cup Thompson Raisins

2 lbs Brown Sugar

5  cups Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Tbsp Kosher Salt

1 Tbsp Ground Chili Flakes

1 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp fresh ground cloves

2 oz Crystallized Ginger Chopped Fine

Method

I have a 13 qt  Le Creuset Dutch Oven that I use for this recipe.  The mixture cooks down quite a bit, but if you use a smaller pot, you will have splatters everywhere.   Chutney is so simple in that you can bung all the ingredients in the pot at one time, give it a few huge stirs and set the fire going.  Bring this up to a boil and then turn the heat down a bit for a hard simmer.  Let this cook down until nice and thick.  This should take anywhere from 60 to 75 minutes depending on how hard you let this boil.  Stir at least every 10 minutes to ensure that nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pot.   You will be left with a gorgeous, sweet chutney that takes so much of its color from the tomatoes.  The yield on this is about fourteen 8 oz jars.  Plenty for your winter larder! 

Spiced Pear Butter Bread Pudding

This is an old standbye, easy-peasy recipe that uses up that stale bread you just might have left in the pantry.  My family loves this bread pudding and when I make it for my farmer's market customers, I usually sell out of my Spiced Pear Butter.  It tastes like the fall and reminds me of the days when the chill would fill the air and the leaves would begin to change.  Now that I am living in Florida, the fall signals a time that the humidity dissapates and the cooler days of winter are fast approaching.   This recipe would work equally as well with Apple Butter if you have that on hand.  You can substitute fresh apples for the pears, substitute cranberries for the raisins, all of it works deliciously.

Ingredients:   1 lb cubed bread
                    1 cup milk
                    1 8 oz jar Sunchowder's Spiced Pear Butter
                    1/2 cup raisins
                    2 Fresh Pears chopped fine
                    3 eggs
                    1/2 cup milk
                    1 tsp Cinnamon
                    Pinch kosher salt
                    4 Tbsp Butter Chopped


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   I use a deep 8 X 8 baking dish.  Cube the bread, lay into your casserole and pour 1 cup milk over, let this soak for 20 minutes.  In a mixing bowl, pour 3 eggs, 1/2 cup milk and beat, then add the balance of the ingredients except butter. Pour this milk, egg and fruit mixture over the bread cubes. Dot casserole with the 4 Tbsp butter chopped.  Bake 45 minutes until set.