How do you like them pears?

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
1

Comice are usually my favorite, followed by Bartlett.

But I’d love to hear about varieties that I don’t usually see around here.

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2

I tend to like Bosc pears. I find the outer skin to be sort of weird but pleasant and they tend to be very juicy when ripe.

I also like Asian pears a lot. While different than a standard pear, I really got a taste for them when my ex’s mum used to cut them up and peel the skin every time I’d come over.

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3

Ask Richard Jennings.

4

Red Anjou are my favorite.

5

Comice for pure juicy insanity. Grilled comice can melt your face into a puddle.

I also like poaching red d’anjou in the vino.

When red asian pears are in season here, they are dynamite in a quick fresh sauté of veggies.

6

The Europeans have what is called a Williams pear – I have never tried and was wondering if anyone on this board has

7

Williams is the same as Bartlett.

8

Never tried grilling them, i see some experimenting in my near future.

I like poaching Bartletts in a syrup with vanilla beans.

9

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10

Red Anjou have been a fave for a long time

But recently I got a tray of Bartlett pears from Costco – and as they ripened to perfection and got sweet and soft, I bought some Brie and served (cleaned) pear halves with a slice of softened Brie on top as a “first dessert course”. Pretty darn nice…

When we were at our “gîte” in the Loire valley several years ago there was a pear tree in the back yard with little pears – I dunno, bigger than figs, but smaller than most pears. I don’t even know what they were but we ate them and each one was perfect. Honey flavored.

BTW for those Bartletts – I used a metal teaspoon measure to scoop out the “core” and it worked beautifully.

11

Here are some great recipes: http://www.pearpanache.com/recipes/

Don’t miss the cocktails from Kelley Swenson.

12

Maybe Forelles?


https://www.google.com/search?q=forelle+pear&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=RYM0UtGFMpXK4API0oCQBQ&sqi=2&ved=0CDQQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=758&dpr=1

13

Comice are only available for a short window here, but I got a few from Fresh Market last week that were sensational and I have a Harry & David gift box coming next week that will provide some more.

14

Trader Joe’s sometimes carries the Harry & David’s comice pears for much cheaper than what H&D sells them for.

Recently discovered abate fetel pears which are quite similar to comice but ever so slightly firmer.

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15

Several years ago, I was visiting Lake County, looking for winery space. I ended up having an interesting discussion with one of the locals in the pear business. He said that the problem with selling Lake County pears was that the only time you could make money was at the beginning of the season. The Lake County pears were considered inferior to those from the Rogue and Hood River Valleys, and once they came on the market, the price people were willing to pay for Lake County pears dropped. The solution was to build giant refrigerated warehouses to store pears until the pears from up north were all sold and the market came back.

I bring this up because we’ve had both Hood River and Lake County Bartletts in the market recently, and the Hood River pears are decidedly superior.

16

Forelle pears, hands down.

17

As the son of parents who owned and ran a fruit growing business, a large portion of which was in pears, my opinion of the four we grew in order of preference:

Bosc (when ripe and not picked too green…incomparable)
Bartlett (the best all-around pear for fresh eating and cooking)
Red Bartlett (see above, but frequently softer and shorter shelf-life)
D’Anjou (excellent at longer-term storage, but the skin was often quite tannic)

We also grew two varieties of “Asian” pears, both of which were excellent, but I don’t really consider them true pears, just like I wouldn’t consider a pluot a plum or an apricot.

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18

Tannic skin, I knew that from experience but never associated that as varietal character. Very cool!