Tested source
Safety status: Tested authoritative recipe. Follow the NCHFP source exactly.
Before you begin
- Method
- Boiling-water
canning - Pack
- Hot pack
- Jar size
- Pints or quarts
- Headspace
- 1/2 inch
Tested source
Safety status: Tested authoritative recipe. Follow the NCHFP source exactly.
Canning timeline
- Prepare jars and a boiling-water canner.
- Peel, halve, core, hold in ascorbic acid solution, then boil drained pears 5 minutes in tested syrup, juice, or water.
- Fill pints or quarts, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
- Pints 20/25/30/35 and quarts 25/30/35/40 minutes at 0–1,000/1,001–3,000/3,001–6,000/above 6,000 ft.
- Cool undisturbed 12 to 24 hours and check seals.
Equipment
Boiling-water canner, nonreactive saucepan or stockpot, preparation tools, jar lifter, and pints or quarts.
Visual method guide
- Prepare: Use sound produce and exact measured ingredients.
- Pack: Hot pack; maintain 1/2 inch headspace.
- Process: Keep jars covered by boiling water and use the altitude schedule.
- Cool: Leave jars upright and undisturbed.
Safety summary
Do not raw pack for this card, omit the 5-minute boil, use larger jars, or shorten processing.
About this recipe
Pears, Halved is a tested NCHFP boiling-water home-canning recipe using hot pack.
Before you begin
- Method
- Boiling-water
canning - Pack
- Hot pack
- Jar size
- Pints or quarts
- Headspace
- 1/2 inch
Visual method guide
- Prepare: Use sound produce and exact measured ingredients.
- Pack: Hot pack; maintain 1/2 inch headspace.
- Process: Keep jars covered by boiling water and use the altitude schedule.
- Cool: Leave jars upright and undisturbed.
Pears, Halved — NCHFP
Ingredients
- 17 1/2 lb ripe mature pears average for a 7-quart canner load
- water, apple juice, white grape juice, or very light, light, or medium syrup for packing fruit
- ascorbic acid solution to prevent discoloration
Equipment
- Boiling-water canner
Directions
- Wash and peel pears. Cut lengthwise in halves and remove cores. Hold prepared pears in ascorbic acid solution to prevent discoloration.
- Boil drained pears 5 minutes in syrup, apple juice, white grape juice, or water. Raw packs make poor-quality pears.
- Fill jars with hot pears and cooking liquid, leaving 1/2-inch headspace.
- Boiling-water process pints 20/25/30/35 minutes and quarts 25/30/35/40 minutes at 0–1,000/1,001–3,000/3,001–6,000/above 6,000 ft.
Recipe Notes
Private Notes
Questions or results?
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Tried this recipe?
Share your results how it turned out.Serving suggestions
Serve as appropriate for the preserved fruit, or use in breakfast dishes, desserts, sauces, and baking after opening.
Frequently asked questions
Can I change the process?
Only make changes expressly permitted by NCHFP. Do not raw pack for this card, omit the 5-minute boil, use larger jars, or shorten processing.
What if a jar does not seal?
Refrigerate promptly, or reprocess within 24 hours using a new lid and the complete tested process when permitted.
How this recipe compares
Hot pack produces better-quality pears than raw pack.
Troubleshooting
Prevent discoloration before the required hot-pack boil.
Discard jars showing leakage, bulging, spurting, mold, or other spoilage. Never taste to determine safety.
Source & provenance
Garden planning for this recipe
Plant, space, variety, zone, and timing estimates live on dedicated ingredient pages:
Typical canning season
Season: Summer, Fall
Months: August, September, October
How much of the main ingredient should I grow?
25–50 lb of Tree fruit per person per year
This is an annual planning range that includes preserving and typical fresh use. Plant, row-foot, and square-foot estimates are shown only when compatible cited yield or spacing data is available.
Garden yields vary by cultivar, climate, soil, pests, and care. Always measure the exact prepared ingredient amount required by the tested canning recipe.

