Jam

Pear butter is a lovely way to use up a couple of random pears before they go off, or make it in giant batches to preserve the season and gobble up throughout the winter. The only problem is, like apple butter, pear butter tends to stick, requiring regular stirring, which leads it to splatter and really burning the arm that stirs it. My friend and former coworker Meghan Stone developed a system where you tape a kitchen towel all around your arm above an oven mitt, limiting the exposed skin that can be burned. It looks ridiculous but, like most things Meghan devises, works brilliantly.