Making Fruit juice

[mogs0]

I have about a zillion pears from my neighbour's garden and after much Internet research have decided that i'd like to try and turn it into juice to give as Christmas presents. My first plan was to try and make cider but it takes too long and I'm impatient!

I have read that the juice needs to be pasteurised in a machine but I was wondering if there's a simpler method to do at home? I'm not prepared to invest £200 in a machine that will probably only get used once - although the blurb did say it could also be used as a tea urn!

The important part is that you heat the juice up to the right temperature for the right amount of time. A pastuerisation machine just makes doing this easier but if you are really careful you can do it with a pan and cooking thermometer.

I wonder if the juice spoils if it heats higher than the suggested temp. I'll have a look online for a cooking thermometer and try it out in a pan of water - I have a pretty ancient hob and not sure if I'll be able to maintain a certain temp.

I haven't done fruit juice, but I have done chopped fruit in syrup. I put the jars with the fruit mix on top of a folded up teatowel in a pan of water and heated it up to the right temperature very, very slowly, over approx 2 hours. That's how low the ring setting was.