This easy pear jam recipe is flavored with lavender and cardamom. It's quick, easy, and made without pectin. Pear jam is perfect on toast, cheese boards, or drizzled over ice cream or Pfannkuchen (German pancakes).
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I love pears, so I'm always looking for ways to incorporate them into new recipes. I've made pear pie, pear crumble, pear apple preserves, poached pears with orange and saffron, and even fermented a fantastic pear wine! So recently, when a friend offered me a bag of red pears, I decided to use them to make this pear jam recipe.
I love the subtle flavor of lavender and cardamom that's infused into this jam, but I understand not everyone does. I won't be hurt if you decide not to include them. If you have any extra jam, you can use it to make these extra-moist pear muffins!
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😍 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- This wonderful homemade pear jam recipe is about as easy as it gets, has a few ingredients, and only takes 30 minutes to prepare!
- You can easily double this recipe to make a larger batch.
- The flavor of the jam can be adjusted to suit your taste. You really only need 3 ingredients: pears, sugar, and acid in the form of lime or lemon juice.
- If you don't like lavender or cardamom, it can be left out or replaced with other spices such as cinnamon or cloves.
- Makes a great gift, especially when you add these adorable vintage labels!
🔖 Ingredients & Substitutions
- Pears: Feel free to use your favorite variety of pears, including Bartlett pears, Bosc, Comice, and red Anjou pears.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar.
- Lime: Zest and juice of one lime. You can substitute a lemon if you prefer.
- Vanilla: One vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
- Lavender: Dried food-grade lavender is added to this pear jam recipe to give the jam floral notes. If you don't like lavender, you can leave it out!
- Cardamom: Besides cardamom, you can try cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and freshly grated nutmeg. However, I don't recommend adding more than ¼ teaspoon of each.
🍐 How to Make Pear Jam Without Pectin
Step 1: Peel and chop the pears into ½" cubes, then add to a saucepan. Add vanilla bean and lime zest, then pour sugar over them. Place lavender and cardamom pods into a tea filter bag or a mesh tea ball strainer and add to the pot. Finally, sprinkle the mixture with lime juice.
Pro Tip: Make sure the bag/ball is submerged in the liquid. If using a tea bag, you may want to tie it to the handle of the pot to keep it in place.
Step 2: Bring the pear jam mixture to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon. Simmer over low to medium heat for approximately 30 minutes. Remove vanilla bean, lavender, and cardamom pods.
Step 3: Use an immersion blender to blend the pears for a smoother texture, or leave the pears whole if you prefer a chunky pear preserves. Ladle jam into sterilized jars, leaving ¼" headspace. Wipe the jar rims with a clean kitchen towel. Fit with sterilized lids, collars, and hand-tighten.
Pro Tip: If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon to mash the pears instead.
Best Pears For Jam
Not all pears are created equal when it comes to jam-making. The best choices are ones that are naturally sweet and have a smooth, juicy texture.
- Bartlett Pears: The classic choice! They're juicy, sweet, and soften beautifully, making them perfect for small-batch pear jam.
- Bosc Pears: Firmer and less juicy, but their rich flavor adds depth. They're great to mix with Bartletts.
- Anjou Pears: Mild and sweet, they hold their shape well and make a lighter-flavored jam.
For the best flavor, choose pears that are ripe but still firm. Overripe pears can make your jam watery, while underripe pears won't be sweet enough.
🍓 How to Process Jam
Step 1: Place mason jars right side up on the rack of a water canner. Fill the canner with water, at least 1 inch above the tops of the jars. Boil for 10 minutes.
Step 2: Once the sterilized jars are filled with jam, gently place the jars on the rack in the canner and boil for 10 minutes. Add a minute for each additional 1,000 feet in elevation above 3000 feet.
Step 3: Remove the jam jars and listen for the ping to make sure the jars seal properly. Sometimes the jars seal inside the canner, so you can also test to see if they are sealed by pressing the center of the lid to make sure there is no give.
Pro Tip: If one or more jars did not seal, consume or refrigerate the jam in those jars first. Store the rest in the pantry or a cool, dark cupboard.
🤷🏻♀️ Recipe FAQs
If you avoid cross-contamination, homemade pear jam can easily last a month in the refrigerator, if not longer. If you process the jars in a water bath canner, the sealed jars have a shelf life of a year or more.
Pears, similar to apples and quince, have a large amount of pectin. This is why most pear jam recipes don't require pectin to be added for thickening the jam.
Pear jam does not require pectin to thicken because pears are high in pectin. If your pear jam needs to be thickened, it probably needs to be reduced further. Try simmering the jam over low heat until it reaches the desired consistency.
👩🏼🍳 Pro Tips
- This jam can be thinned to make a pear glaze that can be used on cookies, muffins, and tarts.
- The lavender can be increased, decreased, or left out depending on whether or not you like the flavor of lavender.
- If a lot of foam forms on the surface of the pear jam, you can either skim it off with a spoon or stir a teaspoon of butter into the jam.
- I like to use these labels to note the type of jam and the date it was prepared.
🍋 More Jam Recipes
📖 Recipe
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Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Peel and chop the pears into ½" cubes, then add to a saucepan. Add vanilla bean and lime zest, then pour sugar over them. Place lavender and cardamom pods into a tea filter bag or a mesh tea ball strainer and add to the pot. Finally, sprinkle the mixture with lime juice.
- Bring the pear jam mixture to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon. Simmer over low to medium heat for approximately 30 minutes. Remove vanilla bean, lavender, and cardamom pods.
- Use an immersion blender to blend the pears for a smoother texture, or leave the pears whole if you prefer a chunky pear preserves. Ladle pear jam into sterilized jars, leaving ¼" headspace. Wipe the jar rims with a clean kitchen towel. Fit with sterilized lids, collars, and hand-tighten.
- Place mason jars right side up on the rack of a water canner. Fill the canner with water, at least 1 inch above the tops of the jars. Boil for 10 minutes.
- Once the sterilized jars are filled with jam gently place the jars on the rack in the canner and boil for 10 minutes. Add a minute for each additional 1,000 feet in elevation above 3000 feet.
- Remove the jam jars and listen for the ping to make sure the jars seal properly. Sometimes the jars seal inside the canner so you can also test to see if they are sealed by pressing the center of the lid to make sure there is no give.
Nutrition
Video
Notes
- Make sure the lavender bag/ball is submerged in the liquid. If using a tea bag, you may want to tie it to the handle of the pot to keep it in place.
- If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon to mash the pears instead.
- If one or more jars did not seal, consume or refrigerate the jam in those jars first. Store the rest in the pantry or a cool, dark cupboard.
- Pear jam can be thinned to make a pear glaze that can be used to ice cookies, muffins, and tarts.
- The lavender can be increased, decreased, or left out depending on whether or not you like the flavor of lavender.
- If a lot of foam forms on the surface of the pear jam, you can either skim it off with a spoon or stir a teaspoon of butter into the jam.
- You can also use these labels to note the type of jam and the date it was prepared.
Barbara says
Can I use honey instead of sugar in this recipe?
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Barbara,
I've never tried making it with honey before so I really can't say.