Topic: pears

[ACE]

What would you do?  My trees are full of what looks like mature size fruit. I have conference and  william. Do I pick them now and ripen in the bowl or wait until they ripen on the trees.

The reason I ask is that it has been a bit gusty lately and I am getting quite a few windfalls that are bruised and are only fit for cooking. I know they will all ripen at the same time, but the family will have most of them, at the same time I would like them to have the undamaged ones.

I have put a few conference windfalls  in a box a few weeks ago  for ripening but they seemed to go dull and the skins appeared to dry up and wrinkle.

[Eristic]

For storage it would be better to carefully pick fruit from the tree then if time and space permit, wrap each pear in newspaper and store on a shelf somewhere cool.

[grawrc]

Ace I've just been reading up about pears prior to buying a couple of trees. All the advice seems to suggest they should be ripened off the tree.

[ACE]

Thanks for the replies. I thought as much, as the ones she used to buy had to sit in the bowl a week before they were fit to eat.

My first serious pear harvest, trees have been in the orchard garden 5 years and are a bit tall and full of fruit. Not bad for some of Woolies 99p bargains. It looks like I will be busy for a couple of hours.

When they were younger and only put out a few fruits, I let them drop and stay on the grass. I had a lot of trouble with my dog who took a liking to them and they really upset his tummy. Had me and the vet puzzled for a while, untill I caught him eating them.

[artichoke]

http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=101

I have just made these from my daughter's glut of rather firm small pears, and it is delicious. Just a bit sweet, so I will put in less sugar next time.