Make light syrup (3 parts water to 1 part sugar) Boil 6 cups of water, then add 2 cups sugar and stir to dissolve. Boil for 3-4 minutes to completely dissolve sugar. Remove from heat & set aside.

Peel, core & halve fresh pears. If desired, drop prepared pears into fruit fresh solution to keep them from turning brown. (I typically just drop them in my simple syrup pot & give a stir)

When all pears and prepared, drain from fruit fresh solution (if using) and add pears to simple syrup. Boil about 5 minutes for hot-pack procedure.

Remove from heat & stir in 1½ teaspoons of vanilla extract.

Prepare 7 quart jars by washing and rinsing thoroughly. Heat jars either by placing in an oven set to 200 degrees or by adding water & placing jars in canner as it's heating. (This helps prevent the thermal shock of placing hot food in a cool jar)

Fill water-bath canner with water and place on the stove over medium-high heat. Boiling this much water takes quite a bit of time so start this step early.

Boil water in a small pan, remove from heat and drop in flat canning jar lids to soften the seals.

When pears are ready to can, place funnel atop hot canning jar and fill with hot pears. Top with syrup to within about 1/2" of the rim.

Run a small rubber spatula down alongside the edges of the jar to release any trapped bubbles. Top with more syrup if needed.

Wipe rim of jar with clean wet cloth to assure no syrup or food particles remain. Add canning jar flat lid and use canning jar ring to tighten finger tight. Add each lidded jar of pears carefully to the boiling water in the canner.

When all jars are added to the canner, assure the boiling water covers the top of the jars by at least 1". Then place the lid on top of your canner and bring the water to a boil.

Boil water 1" over jars for 25 minutes for quarts, 20 minutes for pints.

When canning time is up, turn off heat and allow jars to remain in the canner for 10 additional minutes. This helps equalize the pressure inside the jars reducing the chance that pears & syrup don't pressure themselves from beneath the lid when removing from the canner.

After 10 minutes rest time is up, carefully remove the jars of your canned pears and place on a towel on a countertop away from drafts. Allow to cool overnight.

The following morning test the seals by pressing gently on the center of each flat lid. If you hear a plinky noise when pressed, place that jar in the refrigerator and consume within a couple of days.

If no noise is heard when pressing the center of the flat lid, your jar of fruit has been successfully sealed. Remove the jar band, wipe down the jar to remove any syrup residue, label the contents and store in your pantry.