If small and ripe, cut out the blossom-end, without paring or coring;
put into a saucepan, with enough water to cover them, and stew until
tender; add a half cupful of sugar for every quart of pears, and stew
all together ten minutes; take out the pears, lay in a covered bowl
to keep warm; add to the syrup a little ginger or a few cloves, boil
fifteen minutes longer, and pour over the fruit hot.
_Or,_
If the pears are not quite ripe, but hard and disposed to be tough,
peel them, cut out the blossom-end, leaving on the stems, and stew
until tender in enough water to cover them. Take them out, set by in a
covered dish to keep warm; add to the liquor in the saucepan an equal
quantity of the best molasses and a little ginger; boil half an hour,
skim, and return the pears to the saucepan. Stew all together twenty
minutes, and pour out.
These are very good, and will keep a week or more, even in warm
weather. I have canned them while boiling hot, and kept them sweet a
whole year.