I give this 5 stars for flavor, but 1 star for poor directions and a set failure, with an average of 3 stars. If there is a next time I make this I will follow the directions given on the pectin product with the following changes to give it this recipe's spicyness and nice touch of brown sugar: 4 cups chopped pears, 2 tbs. fresh lemon juice, 1 package pectin (which happens to be only 1.75 oz.), 4 1/2 cups white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar (just substituting 1/2 cup brown sugar for a total of 5 cups sugar), 1 1/4 tsp. allspice and 1 tsp. nutmeg (I can't believe I'm saying this since I adore spices, but there was WAY too much allspice in this recipe). Notice I would not add water, I believe this is why this recipe fails at setting. The recipe on the pectin box does not include water since the pears break down and basically melt anyway. Do step one as listed here, step two would exclude the water and I would simmer uncovered to let any extra liquid evaporate. I would add both sugars and the spices once the pear, lemon juice and pectin mixture comes to a rolling boil. Return to a rolling boil for a minute then can as step 4 states. I have made numerous jam, preserve, jelly, and canning recipes in general and this one was just poorly written. Try it with the above recommendations and I'm sure it will set and be as it should. It is delicious, but syrupy instead of gelled. I'm hoping to use what I have to make the pear preserves cake on this site and I would love to try i

I thought the spices overpowered the taste of the pears. I think I will leae out the spices next time and maybe decrease the water content like another person had suggested.

First batch was syrupy so for second batch, I reduced the sugar to 6 1/2 cups. I substituted cinnamon for nutmeg for both batches. (Was out of nutmeg.) Followed recipe instructions but cooked for 9 minutes stirring constantly after I added brown sugar and spices. Think I will reduce water by half next time. These preserves are YUMMY! Think I will use syrupy preserves for topping on cake and ice cream??

I have made pear preserves before but couldn't find my recipe. This one sounded good so I tried it. I am disappointed. Although it has a good taste I ended up with jars with liquid on bottom and a few floating pears on top. It definitely needs some kind of adjustments.

Taste was ok. Way too much spice. Allspice is overpowering. Mine needed a little extra cooking time or something. It was too runny. Cooked the first batch and threw it out. Did not set and tasted too strong. Second batch was better. Used only half the spices and added more pectin. Will try again maybe with no spices. I really liked the flavor before adding anything more than brown sugar at the end. Can be a great recipe to "tweek" to your own personal taste.

This was a wonderful recipe the first time I've ever canned anything. I pureed the pears first cause I'm not fond of anything too chunky and then I fiddled slightly with the spice reducing the allspice and nutmeg by 1/2 a tsp and adding 1/2 a tsp each of ginger and cinnamon. The preserves smell wonderful and taste like christmas! They have a beautiful deep mahogany color. My only problem seems to be that my lids didn't seal. Will wait 24 hours and try to reprocess again if seals fail. I know alot of the reviews complained about it being too syrupy but I did not have the problem at all, cooled it seems to be the consistency of jam.

Hope this helps anyone,I followed the recipe. and everything was fine, so I thought I would let you know, I feel you must stir all the time after the simmering, and make sure it comes to a boil while stirring before finishing that step. I did have to let my pears coo more than the 10 minutes, I let them cook 20, because I wanted to be able to use a potato masher to cut then in to chucks. and they did not get soft enough till then, I then followed the recipe. making sure that I contuined to stir and the pears boiled, add the pectin and 1/2 tsp of butter, due to the box said to.(however my box was 1.75 oz of sure jell.) I then stirred until it came to a complete boil while stirring, ( I had my sugar, measured and in 1 bowl, and my brown sugar and spices( which I added 2 tsp cimnnamon because I like it.lol)in another bowl. poured in sugar and when it came back to a boil while still stirring set timer ro 1 minute. took off heat and poured brown sugar and spices in and contiuned to stir.I did keep my jars in the boiling water so they was hot when I put the pears in. put lids on and put back into the boiling water for 10 minutes. I have not tried them yet, but felt I would go ahead and do my review because taste was not a problem, Mine did not have a lot of juice and set fine, did make the amount stated.

I'll rate this at 5 stars because of the fantastic taste. It's a little too liquid, so, I'll add more pectin the next time around. The orignial 48 servings will yield 10 half-pint containers.

Ive made this twice now. It has a magnificent taste, but mine also did not set right either time. I added extra pears the second time as I was left with syrup at the end. I am gonna make again and add an extra 1/2 pack at least of sure jell. I dont use liquid, not for any reason than Ive never trid it. I will suggest taking a jar of this and pouring over your ham (especially a sprial cut one)before you bake it pushing it the cracks of the meat. Excellent nice flavor. I will make this again and gave as gifts and everyone loved it. Thanks

I just made this recipe; I was originally looking for a pear butter recipe and this seemed pretty close after reading the reviews. I reduced thecwhite sugar by 1/2-1 cup; reduced the nutmeg by 1/2 tsp, the cloves by 1 tsp, and added 3/4 tsp cinnamon. I also increased the lemon juice to 2 TBSP and reduced the water by 1/2 cup. After simmering the pear chunks I used my immersion blender to "puree" the pears (I did leave some fruit chunks). I added a 1/2 tsp butter when I added the pectin to help reduce foaming. I think I cooked the final mixture before the brown sugar and spice additions for 10 or more minutes to ensure setting. I filled 10 8 oz. jars in the end and had a fragrant, tasty "butter." If I made this again I think I would replace the water with pear nectar for added "pearness."

My Mother, Father and I made this yesterday and it smelled and tasted delicious. Today, it still seems to not want to set. We had a hard time once we put in the pectin to get the pot back to a boil. We are hoping it will set and turn out good.

okay, I knew making this that there was a chance of it being syrupy (reading the reviews) but, as it's the only pear jelly recipe I thought I would give it a try. Sure enough, very thin...so, after asking my mothers I have come up with this for future readers. 1. I used liquid pectic (3oz). My mother swears that gramma used to use powdered because she thought it also contained geletin. so, I'm wondering if the other syrupy reviewers used liquid? Also, the recipe did not state whether I should mash the pears, so basically I have pears in syrup. Taste pretty good though, which is why I gave it two stars. Will use on pancakes or something. *Updated* mashed the pears and recanned. worked out much better. So, mash your pears or you get syrup.

This recipe is great!! I had some pears from my Fathers pear tree and froze them. I thawed them, cut them up and made this recipe. I did alter it a bit (I always seem to be altering recipes). I did not have nutmeg so I used cinnamon. I also doubled the amount of cinnamon and Allspice. And I added more brown sugar. Made an amazing batch of Preserves. Tastes excellent. I got 7 1/2 pint jars and 2 pint jars. Two of the half pint jars are more liquid than the rest, does anyone know why this would be? Anyway I highly recommend this recipe. It is delicious.

This makes wonderful jam. I followed the recipe exactly as written. The jam set quickly and was perfectly spiced. It's great on a bagel with cream cheese, as suggested by another reviewer. It is also great on a peanut butter sandwich or by itself. Perhaps the other reviewers didn't let the jelly boil long enough after adding the pectin or sugar. That could make a difference.

I cut down on the spices by half and this recipe went over great with all my family and friends

I love this recipe! Reminds me a bit of old fashioned apple butter flavors.I ground fresh allspice and was worried it would be to pungent but it tempered after sitting a month Goes great with cream cheese on toasted bagels also on vanilla icecream. Thanx for sharing your Grandma's recipe.

I did this in large part based on the reviews. I must have done something wrong - the liquid, after 2 weeks, is no where close to set - it's of a light syrup consistency. I didn't deviate from the recipe, or so I thought.