Monday, September 20, 2010

A Mended Relationship

If you've been around here for awhile, you know how pears and I get along.



We have one, lone pear tree left out back and I'm still not certain what kind of pear tree it is.  If you have any ideas, feel free to let me know.   It does not appear to be of the keifer variety that the trees (that we chopped down) were in our front yard.

Well, this year, while watching a good pear crop grow and ripen on the brances, I was bound to get educated on the matter.  I found a great resource here out of Oregon State University.  We followed their advice and had great success.



Did you know that pears ripen from the inside out?  And that in order to ripen properly, they need to be picked when tilting the branch causes them to fall from the tree, then cooled for several days, then set out to ripen?  Can you tell that *I* did not know these things?  It's good I got educated.

We could have picked our pears a little earlier.  A great number fell from the tree on their own and got devoured by the chickens below.  The wind aided in this as did the occasional baseball that was hit into said pear tree.

Once picked, we stuck them in the fridge for three days, then set them out on a table in the dining room.  It took 4-5 days for them to ripen from light green to yellow to a pink blush.  Because they ripen so slowly and at different rates, they are perfect for eating out of hand.  I'm sick of canning, anyway:-).



How do they taste?  Fabulous.  They are a little on the tart side, but so full of wonderful pear flavor that our taste buds don't mind a bit.  Miriam absolutely loves them and can eat two pears herself (they're on the small side, so we let her).  Those first couple bites, she puckers through.  Once past the initial punch of flavor she eats the chopped pieces by the little handful, juice running down to her elbows.



I think from now on, pears and I are going to get along just fine. Pin It

4 comments:

  1. Pears can be a tough one to figure out, it sounds like you have a handle on it now. It also took us a couple years to learn when and how to pick, store, and can the ones off a large Bosc type tree we have growing next to our field. Or favorite use besides fresh for them is ginger pear sauce...so good. Your pears look really nice this year and bug free.:) That looks like a really big tree you have there.

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  2. I had no idea that pears were so complicated.

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  3. I'm glad you're having better success this year. I've sliced and frozen them in the past. I think pear sauce is absolutely wonderful! Maybe give that a try :)

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  4. We picked some free pears from a friend of a friend this year and they didn't do as well as I hoped. I didn't know you needed to chill them first. Thanks for the helpful advice. I might try again next year.

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