Allen
08-13-2024, 10:29
Pears.
As a child I remember when all the old home sites, mostly farmers had pear trees. I'm speaking of what we call "sand pears". They aren't great for eating off the tree but can be just fine for pies and canning. I remember seeing dozens of canned jars of these pears in most of the homes I visited back then. I guess they were put in reserve in case of dire need. All of these people I speak of went through the Great Depression and remembered what it was like not having food.
I have a couple of bearing trees right now with the limbs loaded down to the ground. I am giving them away to someone we know. What they are doing with them I donno. They make good baseball's too as they are fairly hard but soften like baked apples when cooked.
I just read up on them to see how long they would keep in the mason jars. The "best by" recommendation is one year but they last many years beyond that--some report eating them 25 years later or so. Even on line, with no one wanting to go off on a limb it is stated that "if you open a jar, it still has a vacuum, still smells and looks good, it probably is still edible.
Like apples, which do not grow here, they are preserved with a little cinnamon.
When speaking here on survival foods we mostly speak about store bought items but this would be a good source of food as well. A co-worker of mine made kumquat marmalade--it was much better than the store bought orange. I would think you could do the same with other fruits and berries as well such as loquats.
Any thoughts on this?
As a child I remember when all the old home sites, mostly farmers had pear trees. I'm speaking of what we call "sand pears". They aren't great for eating off the tree but can be just fine for pies and canning. I remember seeing dozens of canned jars of these pears in most of the homes I visited back then. I guess they were put in reserve in case of dire need. All of these people I speak of went through the Great Depression and remembered what it was like not having food.
I have a couple of bearing trees right now with the limbs loaded down to the ground. I am giving them away to someone we know. What they are doing with them I donno. They make good baseball's too as they are fairly hard but soften like baked apples when cooked.
I just read up on them to see how long they would keep in the mason jars. The "best by" recommendation is one year but they last many years beyond that--some report eating them 25 years later or so. Even on line, with no one wanting to go off on a limb it is stated that "if you open a jar, it still has a vacuum, still smells and looks good, it probably is still edible.
Like apples, which do not grow here, they are preserved with a little cinnamon.
When speaking here on survival foods we mostly speak about store bought items but this would be a good source of food as well. A co-worker of mine made kumquat marmalade--it was much better than the store bought orange. I would think you could do the same with other fruits and berries as well such as loquats.
Any thoughts on this?