ripen pears

sushmita

If I want to eat a pear, I have to plan it at least two weeks in advance. When I buy them no matter where (Lidl, Supervalu…) they are as hard as a rock and I have to wait for a long time before they become slightly soft and juicy.

Does anybody know where I can buy ripen pears? In Dublin, county Dublin or even better in county Meath?.

Thank you!

Melendez

This post has been deleted.

Alun

The problem with pears is that they are quite unreliable as to how long they take to ripen, and then you have a fairly narrow window in which to use them, a nightmare for commercial suppliers.

I know this from bitter experience, as I have a pear tree in my garden that produced over 200 of them last year. I stored them for about 2-3 weeks, during which time they did nothing at all and stayed as hard as rocks, and then suddenly within 2-3 days all ripened at once, followed by some just going rotten.

sushmita

Thank you Melendez, I actually haven't thought of M&S.

sushmita

Thank you for explain Alun, finally I understand the reason

rubadub

Alun wrote: »

I know this from bitter experience, as I have a pear tree in my garden that produced over 200 of them last year. I stored them for about 2-3 weeks, during which time they did nothing at all and stayed as hard as rocks, and then suddenly within 2-3 days all ripened at once, followed by some just going rotten.

I used to get great pears in my grandparents, I remember branches breaking they were so heavy with pears. We used to get lots and they would be wrapped individually in newspapers and in trays. I never had any pears that compared since, and this is not just nostalgia, at the time I had pears from grocers and supermarkets and none were nearly as good.

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?245775-Wrapped-Pears

70 years ago I had the oppertunity to eat a fresh pear that had been wrapped in plain newspaper and was allowed to rippen in the paper for a period of time. That was the best pear I have ever eaten in my life. I would like to wrap some pears this year. Does any one know at what stage to pick the pears and how many days to let them them wait before eating?
I picked a pear off the tree yesterday that was starting to get mellow.

Have never done that but did find a recipe in "The encyclopedia of country living" by Carla Emery.

Root Cellar Storage
Pears will not keep in storahge unless picked early and stored then!

Don't put any bad ones in the storage box. Box them shallow rather than deep.
It helps to wrap them individually in paper (not newsprint unless you're going to peel them). Keep them where it is cool. The ideal is 32-40 degrees F, 80 to 95 percent humidity. How long they'll keep dependes on the the temperature and the variety-maybe 2 or3 months, maybe even 5.
Use up or can up because pears stored overly long won't ripen normally when taken out.

Hope this helps.

Pears should be picked just as they start to change color a little bit and there is a little give by the stem when pressing with your thumb. If you pick them ripe from the tree, they are already overripe inside.

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/pears-are-in-season/article_cca85f49-fc27-5387-9760-2feef2636888.html

But it's also OK — and sometimes even preferable — to buy pears before they ripen. In this case, they should be firm but not rock-hard. You can store them in the refrigerator, then bring them out and let them ripen in a loosely closed brown paper bag for a few days up to more than a week, depending upon the variety. Another time-tested method is to wrap underripe pears individually in newspaper and store them in a cool cellar or even in a cool, dry drawer.

http://www.harvesttotable.com/2006/12/pears/

Most pears do not ripen well on the tree but instead gain sweetness after they are harvested and as their starch converts into sugar.

When a pear yellows and yields to the touch at the neck, it is ripe, juicy, and ready to eat.

European pears are best when ripened off the tree. Pears left on the tree will not develop peak flavor or texture.

That means that when a pear reaches its mature size—and mature size depends upon the pear’s variety—it should come off of the tree green and hard.

Once off the tree a pear should ripen slowly. One of the best places this can happen is in your own kitchen. Slow room temperature ripening allows a pear’s sugars to develop.

Storing and ripening pears. The best way to ripen pears in your kitchen is to wrap each pear in tissue or old newspaper and place it in a cardboard box or brown paper bag—not plastic. This increases the concentration of ripening ethylene gases that pears naturally emit.

The ideal temperature for ripening pears is 60 to 70ºF (15-21ºC) but not warmer than 75ºF (25ºC).

Pears can be stored at temperatures below 40ºF (5ºC) for several week and then brought out to ripen at room temperature. That’s why you’ll find pears still at the farm market well into the cold weather months.

Winter pears such as ‘Comice’ and ‘Anjou’ actually require about six weeks of cold storage before ripening to the highest quality. Varieties like ‘Bosc’, ‘Seckel’, and ‘Winter Nelis’ will ripen stored in a cool place such as a basement or cellar.

Summer pears, such as the ‘Bartlett’, do not require any cold storage to ripen. Just set them on the kitchen counter.

The process of sweetening up pears can take place on your cool kitchen counter or it can go forward in refrigerated cold storage. It’s probably the case now that the pears you select this week at the market or farm stand have been gaining sweetness in a cooled warehouse since late in the summer. Ask your grower to know for sure

There are several species of pears, but generally pears are divided into two groups or classes: those that originated in Asia and those that originated in Europe. The difference: European pear trees generally require more days of winter chill than Asian pears in order to be productive, and Asian pears will often ripen right on the tree, unlike European pears.

I do remember getting pears which were horrible in a supermarket in recent years, and leaving them carelessly in a bowl and eating them weeks or months later and they were far better.

ted1

Bananas will ripen fruit, store them together