Pear Crisp

Our ancient pear tree is laden with pears and they are falling to the ground. I will pick as many pears as I can off the tree before any more fall.

The pear tree is at least seventy years old. It has withstood hundreds of storms, high winds, droughts, heavy rains, and lightning. It is missing part of its trunk from a lightning strike. When it happened a decade ago, we thought the damage would end it’s production of pears. It didn’t. The tree has continued to produce. Lots and lots of pears!

We have to pick the pears before they hit the ground. If you look at photos of the pears on the ground, there’s a lot of “bites” out of them. At night, we have a zoo in our yard, with deer, raccoons, possums, and yes, skunks roaming around. I hope you’re not grossed out. They love pears! The crazy thing is they don’t snack on our garden. Just pears.

Pear-picking tools are assembled to pick the hundreds of pears weighing down the tree. We have laundry baskets, a very old fruit picker, five-gallon buckets for severely damaged and partially eaten pears, and our large old metal wheelbarrow.

It only takes about an hour to strip the tree clean. One large laundry basket will go “into town” for a friend to distribute throughout her neighborhood and the local food bank. I park myself on our back patio with a sharp paring knife, buckets, and bowls, removing skin, coring and slicing. I don’t keep the skin on the pears. Because they are not sprayed, they are NOT pretty, and have all sorts of defects-with pits, scars, and discolorations all around. But man, are they good! The pears are smaller than store-bought, but they are available for the picking in our side yard next to the rhubarb patch. I thank the generations before me who planted these things.

The slices are packed into quart-sized freezer bags and stacked in our basement freezer. Twenty-three quarts of sliced pears are put away. I don’t can them, as canning pears requires added sugar and more time. There’s enough sugar in our go-to Pear Crisp recipe to make a wonderful dessert.

With this Pear Crisp recipe, you can use ANY fruit. It’s so simple, and all you have to remember is the number one! You will understand as you read below…

Pear Crisp Tools You’ll Need:

• Measuring cups/spoons
• Mixing bowl
• Pastry Blender
• 9×13 baking dish

Pear Crisp Recipe

Fill the bottom of a Pam-sprayed 9X13 baking dish with as many pears as you wish. (I use around 2.5-3 quarts of pears.)

Cut with a Pastry Blender in a bowl:

• 1 C softened butter
• 1 C white sugar
• 1 C brown sugar
• 1 C flour
• 1 C quick oats
• 1 T cinnamon

Sprinkle on top of pears. Bake @ 350˚  for 40-50 minutes. You can serve this Pear Crisp with whipping cream or ice cream if you feel fancy!

Pear Crisp Cooking Notes:

• You can use any fruit or combination of fruit with this crisp recipe. You really don’t have to add any additional sugar to the fruit. While baking, the topping cascades the sugar down into the fruit to make a lovely “sauce”.

• Speaking of sugar, pears are naturally very sweet, so you can easily use less sugar in the topping with little effect on the sweetness. Rhubarb may call for the full amount listed.

• There is a variation on the baking time. Be sure to check your crisp after the 40-minute mark to see if you need additional baking time.

Be Blessed!