Ingredients
1 cup currants
1 cup sultana raisins
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
1 lemon, juice & grated rind
1 orange, juice & grated rind
1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 pinch pickling salt
4 1/2 lb pears (10 large)
1 cup slivered blanched almonds
1/4 cup rum
Directions
In a large stainless steel or enamel saucepan, combine currants,
raisins, apricots, lemon and orange rind and juice, brown sugar,
cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt.
Peel, core and chop pears to yield 10 cups. Stir into fruit mixture.
Bring to a boil; reduce heat. COVER and simmer 30 minutes, stirring
occasionally.
Fill boiling water canner with water. Place 5 clean pint mason jars
in canner over high heat.
Place snap lids in boiling water; boil 5 min to soften sealing
compound.
UNCOVER fruit mixture and continue cooking, stirring occasionally,
about 15 minutes until very thick. Stir in almonds and rum; simmer 5
minutes longer.
Ladle mincemeat into hot jars to within 1/2 inch of top rim (head
space). Remove air bubbles by sliding rubber spatula between glass
and food; readjust head space to 1/2 inch. Wipe jar rim removing any
stickiness. Center snap lid on jar; apply screw band just until
fingertip tight. Place jar in canner. Repeat for remaining mincemeat.
Cover canner; return water to a boil. Process 20 minutes at
altitudes up to 1000 ft. Remove jars. Cool 24 hours. Check jar
seals. (Sealed lids curve downward.) Remove screw bands (if desired).
Wipe jars.
Label and store in a cool, dark place.
Source: Bernardin Guide to Home Preserving revised Canada 1992.
Shared but not tested by Elizabeth Rodier Aug 93
Servings: 5 servings
Pear Mincemeat Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Meat; Pear
The History of Recipes
Academics have proved the existance of recipes far back into distant history, at least as far back into history as the Egyptians, and possibly even further than that. In practice though, generally, these early recipes were just primitive pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for preparing food.
Fascinatingly, the oldest recipe in existence, according to historians are some stone tablets in the Sumerian language which show the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made anyone who drank it feel `exhilarated, wonderful and blissful`. During the time of the Roman Empire a roman called Apicius created some scripts describing recipes prepared by wealthy roman citizens. In his works, Apicius tells us how the meals of wealthy Romans were split into appetizers, entrees and desserts, something that is very familiar to us today. This early Roman chef recounts how the early Romans used a good variety of aromatic flavours, including some familiar names like bay, fennel and parsley. As our culinary historical trip moves on a few more years we find a couple of interesting books from the 14th Century ; one book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary called `Curye on Inglish`. Don`t be fooled by the titles though, these two books have no connection with the indian curry that appears on menues today, but instead accounts of the types of food on the menus of the rich and powerful of that time. In the fifteenth century, people returning from the crusades brought back many foods, spices and herbs from Arab countries, such as rosemary and coriander. These new culinary innovations led to an outbreak in books on cooking, some of which are kept safe in private cookery archives. Over the following few hundred years, the powerful and rich competed with each other to offer the best banquets, and as a consequence, cooks and their recipe collections were greatly in demand. Notwithstanding that, it was during the 1800s that fine cooking and recipe publications became popular. The Famous Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, devoted their lives to collecting, trying out, and writing down recipes that were common in the better off homes of the day. By the arrival of the 20th century, cookbooks are in great demand, due to more people being able to read, people having more free time and having more money. The introduction of television gave us TV cookery programs and the spin-off recipe books. Which brings us neatly up to date and the internet revolution, permitting everybody to access thousands of recipes such as those found on our site. |
We hope you enjoy this Pear Mincemeat recipe.
