1. Wash the outside of the fruit with water and cut it in 8 medium sized pieces. You don't have to core or deseed the fruit; everything can go in the pot.
2. Place the fruit in a large pan with a thick bottom so you get even heat. I suggest you place the pears on the bottom, since they don't burn as fast. Add the glass of water.
3. If you are using them, add the dried fruits at this point.
4. Put the heat as low as possible and let it all slowly stew for 3 hours, stirring every now and then.
5. At this point, you can boil your glass jars to sterilize them. Place the sterilized jars on a clean, dry towel.
6. When the fruit is done cooking for 3 hours, grab your sieve or cheese cloth, and place it over a bowl, run your fruit through it until you have extracted all the clear liquid. You can discard the pulp.
7. Quickly rinse the pot with water until clean and add the fruit liquid back. Place back on the stove.
8. Add the sugar. Add a bit less sugar if you also used dried fruits.
9. Cook for another 2 hours. After that, stir every so often, Be careful with the stirring; if you stir too often, it might caramelize too quickly.
10. After two to two and a half hours, your syrup should be nearly done.
11. At this point, it's up to you on how thick you want your syrup to be. A good way to test the viscosity is to drop a little bit on a cold plate or on your countertop to see how it is at room temperature.
12. When you are happy with the viscosity, pour the syrup into your sterilized jars and immediately seal them.
