Pear Relish

Ingredients

• 1 gallon Seckel pears
• 3 pounds sugar
• 1 quart vinegar
• cloves
• allspice
• mace
• ginger
• cinnamon
• black pepper
• 1 large sweet red pepper
• sliced lemon

Instructions

1. Wash and stem the Seckel pears. Using a very sharp narrow pen-knife, remove the blossoms and stick a clove in each cut made. Drain the pears well.
2. Make a syrup from three pounds of sugar and one quart of vinegar. Bring to a quick boil, skim, and set back to simmer. After skimming, add cloves, allspice, mace, ginger, cinnamon, and black pepper, all pounded small but not powdered. Drop the drained pears into the syrup.
3. Cut up a large sweet red pepper and drop the shreds into the syrup. Let cook until the pears are tender. If the syrup is thin when the pears are done, add more sugar—some pears yield more juice than others. Add sliced lemon if desired for a piquant tang.
4. Put into glass or stone jars and cover tight, laying a brandy paper on top.