Spiced Peaches*

 *Warning, when you open the jar, it won't be peaches! 

I had to substitute what was in season, by the time I got to this recipe, and the only similar fruit to peaches that I could still find in the stores? Pears. Now, pears and I have had a bit of a battle, in that I buy them green at the store, and they never, ever seem to ripen, then suddenly they are overripe and not suitable. So I did a bit of research, and found that you can't just put them in a paper bag (tried that, it didn't seem to help). You need to put ripe bananas in the bag, too, as the bananas give off some sort of gas that helps ripen the pears. Oh my, what a surprise when I found that it worked! In 2 1/2 days, in a bag with ripe bananas, my pears ripened to perfection (not too soft, not too hard).

The Cinnamon Pears are now stored on the shelf, to bring out on a winter's day when I'm craving fruit. For the record, I've never canned fruit, except my grandmother's pear marmalade. So I do rather hope the recipe is a good one.



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