Pear Puree

We had about four pears that seemed to be getting a little too ripe.  So into the pot they went and became puree for the freezer.  Peel and core the pears first and then cut into small pieces.  To help prevent browning of the fruit I splash a little lemon juice on them and then drained it out.  Some infants may have sensitivity to citrus (it isn't technically supposed to be introduced until 12 months).  I didn't find any problems with this technique and it's a very small amount of juice.  For the pears I decided to boil them (for about 8 minutes).  Once this was done I poured out most of the water.  Pears are naturally watery so there wasn't a need to add any of this water to the puree.  I then scooped the pears into my small mixer; I would recommend this over a large blender (especially if you only have one baby).  Once again I used my pastry bag to dispense the pear puree into the ice cube trays for freezing.  Four pears filled about one ice cube tray with a small amount of extra.  I put the extra into a small jar and into the fridge to see how the lemon splash prevented browning.  It did end up turning about the color of apple sauce in the fridge.  The frozen cubes stayed fairly golden.

Cost:  4 pears (approx $3)
Servings:  1 tray (16 cubes ~ 1 oz each) and 4 oz jar
Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Notes:  Splash with lemon juice and drain to prevent browning (watch for sensitivity though)

Tools:  pearing knife, boiling pot, small power blender, pastry bag and ice cube tray.

Ratings:
Kendall - 3 star
Seren - 3 star