Need to check on improved kieffer they are running late this year. These are what i consider the potato of pears. They will absolutely feed you but they are not the high quality pear everyone is used to. They are intended to be used for canning and they are one of the best for that.
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Improved kieffer are getting some insect damage as expected like most pears this year. Today is September 25th.
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I used my Kieffer pears to make pear butter.
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A very hardy pear that sets very heavy crops. Keep in mind this is a canning pear. If your looking for a fresh eating pear consider harrow sweet, warren, potomac etc. but canning pears are literally for canning. We eat a few fresh every year and i enjoy them when i do.
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My grandmother and I made “apple” pie from fresh-picked 'Kieffer"pears in the 1970’s, she said she learned that during the depression. Most people didn’t know the difference. 
An older lady gave me a jar of “pear honey” from ‘Kieffer’ pears I brought to her by the 5 gallon bucketfuls. Better than anything store bought!
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I used my Kieffer pears to make pear butter. They were great for that use. I will have to look up to see if I can find a “pear honey” recipe. That name " pear honey" sounds good.
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I made pear butter as well and added some ginger and it’s divine
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My wife makes pear preserves from kieffer pears… oh man … it is soooooo good.
Usually when a kieffer starts dropping some fruit… we pick a 5 gal bucket or two… cover the top and sit them in a cool dark location (basement)… and check them every few days until they yellow up some and just start to soften a bit.
Ideal for processing into pear preserves at that point… or for putting in a bowl on the counter for eating.
If you let them get too soft… you will have to peal manually. We use a (apple pealer corer slicer) device to process ours… works great for preserves.
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Seems like a good spot to drop these pear honey recipes from the Farm Journal Freezing and Canning Cookbook.
Notice that the first recipe specifically calls for using Kieffer pears. The other recipes utilize Bartlett. Seems like Kieffer might be especially suited for making pear honey. The paragraph before the recipe includes picking and storage tips.
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Great, thank you for posting this. I had a LOT of Kieffer pears this year. First time this tree produced pears. They were really good to eat. I am sure I will need this recipe here in the future since this pear tree seems to love to produce fruit.
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They are one of the very best producers in any orchard. They are slightly delayed in beginning production in comparison with harrow sweet , harrow delight, duchess d’ angoulme, and others. Once the production begins, they are unstoppable. Many ask why i grow kieffer since i can’t sell them, and the answer wwe both know well is this is the pear that always feeds us. I have been told that at one time, most canned pears were not bartlett that they were kieffer. I’m not sure if that is still true. I dont buy many store bought pears.
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I bet you dont buy store pears! Lol
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Kiefer pears make excellet pear preservs.
Absolutely delicious… we have made them from kiefer pears for many years.
My wifes simple recipe is in the Fruit in the Kitchen category. Look for “Pear Preserves” there.
TNHunter
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Those look awesome! Never had pear preserves other than canned pears:(
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Nice color too
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Yes… very nice color… the color you get will vary some with different pear varieties… and your cook time.
Those were cooked 2 hours and had wow reddish color.
Everyone in our family loves the pear preserves … we often give them as something a little extra special at Christmas.
TNHunter
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They look fantastic and yummy. Great job with the pear preserves.
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That is true about the canned pears sold in stores that do not say what variety they are,i.e., Bartlet. Then they are Kieffer. I have read this in more than one article. It makes sense when you taste them. Kieffer pears are a workhorse of a pear.
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