Sweet-Sour Pears

Ingredients

• pears
• cloves
• ginger tea
• 1 cupful sugar
• vinegar

Instructions

1. Prepare pears according to size. For large pears: pare, quarter, and remove the core; stick one clove in each quarter. For small or medium pears: wash (do not pare), remove cores, and insert two cloves in each cavity.
2. Place pears in a kettle and cover with cold strained ginger tea. Boil fifteen minutes until a fork pierces them without much resistance. Skim out the pears and pack them into jars, scattering spices liberally through the layers.
3. For the pickling liquid: combine sugar (one cupful per quart of vinegar) with boiling hot vinegar. Pour this mixture over the pears in the jars. Let stand twenty-four hours, then drain off the liquid, boil it, and pour it over the pears again. Repeat this draining and repouring process two more times (three times total).
4. On the final cycle, place all the pears and liquid together in the kettle, bring to a boil, cook five minutes, then pack while hot into clean stone jars.