Topic: Pear ripening

[peanuts]

When we moved to this house 12 years ago there was a very tall old pear tree.  There have never been more than a few fruit, and they fell before ripening, although there is always lots of blossom.  This winter a knowledgable friend came and gave it a very severe pruning.  And now there are far more pears than we can count!  And good size too.  We know they are a good flavour. 

My question is should we pick them now to ripen slowly indoors? Or should we be leaving them to ripen on the tree, and risk losing most of them to the birds  and hornets?? 

[ACE]

Just a few at a time in the fruit bowl with a banana to speed them up. When they start coming ripe fast on the tree, you will never eat them all before they go too soft. Then bung them in the juicer and make pear cider. Pear and ginger jam is lovely with pork, also pear based pickles can be made with fallers and damaged fruit.

[saddad]

If you can provide a constant cool temp storing in trays is good... failing that process some.. pears in red wine is a good "pudding"! Some good ideas there ACE!

[tricia]

I've picked a dozen or so Bon Chretien from my 'family ' pear tree, the others being 'Concorde and Conference. The Chretien is always the first and doesn't keep well so will be ripened a couple at a time in the fruit bowl keeping the rest in the fridge to be used up within a month or so.

I pick each variety as soon as the fruit will break off with a quick twist.

Tricia 

[peanuts]

These are what they look like:

[Tee Gee]

I always understood Pears ripen better after they are picked rather than being left on the tree to ripen!

I am not sure why this is other than if they ripen on the tree they are more susceptible to bird and wasp damage.

Story. I couldn't be of more help!

Nice Pears btw

[peanuts]

Thanks for  the helpful advice.  We went out yesterday afternoon deciding to pick some,  but quickly decided to pick them all, as quite a number are already being attacked by hornets, even though still hard.  We have Asian baronets here as well as the European ones. When ripe we know these are beautiful to eat, even from the very few we've had over the years.  They are very like the comice ones my parents always used to bring up for Christmas!
The damaged ones are waiting to ripen under a tea towel, lots are in the bottom of the fridge.  Mmmmmmm!

[ancellsfarmer]

The most delicious pears are the 'escapees' which fall gently from your neighbours tree, onto soft grass or leaves and'disappear ' until you (or some scavenger) find them. Cool, slightly damp conditions in the dark would do.

[JanG]

The tricky thing with pears is that they rot from the centre out, unlike apples, so it tends to be difficult to tell how ripe they are until they turn to mush when you pick them up.
But I agree that they're much better picked hard but, as Tricia says once you can pick them without having to yank too hard.  Then it's good to spread the ripening time out as much as possible by putting some in with a ripe banana, keeping some at room temperature and putting as many as you've got room for in a fridge.
I also try to stagger the picking a bit to keep as many variables going as possible. That way you can have them over quite a good long period. And yours look great!

The good thing is that once you've discovered the optimum time for picking that variety the first year, you'll get it to a fine art for the following years.

[Deb P]

These are what they look like:

They look like ‘Doyenne du Comice’ to me....I used to have a double U shaped cordon in our front garden but it developed canker and had to be removed sadly.

[tricia]

Some years ago I had a Doyenne du Comice too. It produced huge,  fantastic flavoured pears, but like yours  Deb - it developed canker and had to be removed! No problems with the current family tree though.


Tricia 

[JanG]

And I had a Williams Bon Chrétien which got bad canker and was removed. perhaps some of the older varieties are more prone to it. The two I have left - Beth and Concorde, both a bit more recently bred I think - have been brilliant.