Simple Syrup

Here is the recipe for the simple syrup for canning fruit.

Light Syrup needs 4 cups water/or juice and 2 cups of sugar
Medium syrup is 4 cups of water/or juice and 3 cups sugar
Heavy syrup is 4 cups water/or juice to 4 3/4 cups sugar

I always use the light syrup for my fruit, it doesn't need any more sweetness than that. Unless of course you are a sweet freak and need the heavy syrup with your fruit, but since fruit has so much natural sugar; light syrup (to me) tastes the best.

Fun Facts of our canning experience on Aug. 23, 2008:

We used 52 lbs of pears to get 24 pints and 12 quarts
We used about 40 cups of water and 20 cups of sugar for simple syrup
It took us almost 10 hours to can it all from start to finish.
Cost us $38 for all the pears and $6 for the sugar
We have enough pears for the next year.

Last but not least, we had tons of fun!!!