One of summer fruit favorites – pear can make a great snack, are somewhat unique when baked for delicious deserts and without a doubt are great out-of-hand eating fruits. There are also a few varieties that are imported year round and once you start buying them, they will bevome a regular fruit item on your shopping list.
Here is a short description of varieties of this wonderful fruit –Â few things to remember when choosing the your favourites.
Remember: Pears continue to ripen rather quickly after they are picked. They will soften as they ripen and have a very sweet aromatic flesh.
Common varieties are:
Anjou: Green or red soft, fragrant and juicy, they are not reommended for baking or poaching.
Bartlett: Aromatic and smooth-fleshed, these are best for canning
Bosc: Sweet and nutty flavoured, very good for baking or poaching
Comice: Short-necked, fine-grained, sweet and juicy – very best for eating
Forelle: Small and sweet, green turning to yellow when ripe. Great for eating.
Seckel:Small, very sweet and spicy, good for canning whole or poaching when not fully ripe and still firm
Asian: These only ripen while still on the tree and are crunchy with pleasant underlying tartness. They come in a few varieties and all are imported. The alrge, round, brown and thick skinned type with a slightly grainy flesh are an excellent dessert pears. Peel them before eating. There are also round, slightly pear-shaped varieties of yellow Asian pears. They are thin skin, sweet and fine-textured , juicy and crispy. Both these varieties can be poached.
Hope you have enjoyed this information – please send in your comments, suggestions and experiences, your input is always welcomed and very much appreciated
I have a pear tree that I planted about 15 years ago. It has a round, tan fruit that is soft, juicy and sweet. I have no idea what variety it is because it was tagged as a bartlett. It ripens in August and seems that the fruit all ripens at the same time. I would really like to know what variety it is and would ship some to you to identify if you would be willing to help.
Hi! I will be happy to help if I can – can you take a picture and forward it to me?
I will take a picture of the fruit when it gets further along in development. It got naturally thinned out this weekend when we got a little hail about dime/nickle size. I really think it was a good thing since so mean fruit had set.