Harvest time

 Our very generous neighbour popped round this morning with these beauties. Some Williams pears and..

 ..some Conference pears. She has pear trees growing up the fence that backs onto our decking area. We can see a few pears at the top of the fence, weighing the branches down. We went round to have a look at the trees in all their glory last week. It was a sight to behold, a bumper crop apparently. Might have something to do with all the rain we have had, mixed with the odd burst of sunshine. I saw our neighbour wandering around this morning, delivering baskets full of pears to all the neighbours. After living next door for 30 years, I think she may be a bit fed up with pears.

The big question is - what to do with them? I think there will be some that will get eaten over the next few days but I do really want to preserve some of them. I've found a recipe for pear and lemon jam which sounds delicious, but I don't often eat jam so I'd like to make something else. Another neighbour has an apple tree in their front garden so I may pick some apples and make an apple and pear chutney as we seem to be getting into eating cheese boards. We had a yummy tea last night of crusty bread, crackers and various cheeses with chutney, celery and grapes. I was amazed at how much celery F ate and how few cheeses the girls tried. Why did they not want to try wensleydale and cranberries?

So, any pear recipes you can recommend??