Carrot Cake Jam

This is the life of a stay-at-home mom: "The laundry is done, the floors are clean (for now), one kid is outside and one is napping, what should I do? Hmmm...make jam!"
Let me be clear, I do not like jam and I do not like Carrot Cake. Not one bit. But my husband does, so he benefits from my strange cooking binges. Even with my aversion to both parts of this concoction, I must admit it is pretty darn good. Spread this on a bagel with cream cheese and you will be glad you did.

You will need:

1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
1 1/2 cups peeled, sliced pears
20 oz. can of crushed pineapple with juice
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon powdered clove
1 pkg. pectin
6 1/2 cups sugar

**If you want to can this jam, start warming the jars now! See below for more info.

Combine first 7 ingredients in a large saucepan, simmer for about 15 minutes until the pears are soft. Stir if you are worried about anything sticking.

Remove from heat, stir in pectin. Bring to a boil, add sugar. Stir, bring to a rolling boil for one minute. At this point the jam is done. It is up to you if you want to can this or refrigerate this. This will make about 7 or 8 half pints.

**Canning jam is easy. If you have never canned before, this is a good place to start. Wash jars. Put just jars in canner, cover with water, start it boiling!**

Place lids in a bowl or pan with hot, not boiling, water until ready. OK...now your jelly is done and your jars are warm. Fill them up! One at a time, of course. Remove one jar from the canner, fill it almost to the top, wipe the lip, put the lid on, and tighten a band around it. Put it back in the water bath and repeat until you are out of jam. Make sure your canner water is boiling, and if it is, you are ready to go! Cover and process for 10 minutes.

When the jars are done, let them cool for awhile and you can check if they are 'done' by seeing if the tops pop. If they do, then your canning didn't stick and you will have to refrigerate the unsealed jars.

You can find some variations of this on line, have you tried different ingredients?