Pears

Happy_Harry

Any idea where I can get nice, juicy ripe pears to make a smooth sorbet ?

I find pears in Ireland generally rock hard and without juice..

Is there a particular season for pears, I had kind of thought it would be similar to apples (being autumn or if stored well, all year)

Thanks

Dizzyblonde

Pears are precarious, they don't ripen on the tree and you have to watch them like a hawk then pounce and use them when they ripen. I buy a punnet and keep them in the kitchen - after 4-5 days they all ripen together and I eat them all within a couple of days. You could put them into a paper bag with a banana, that will speed up the ripening process - or could you cheat and use a tin of pears that are in juice rather than syrup?

Here in Ireland they're in season in the autumn.

Alun

What Dizzyblonde said ... we have a pear tree in our garden that last year produced over 200 pears! They don't ripen on the tree, and if you leave them there too long they rot from the inside out. So you have to pick them at just the right time and store them in a cool dark place, in our case for a couple of weeks or more, and then like DB said, they all ripen at once, a nightmare!

Commercially they do something similar, but in a much more controlled way keeping the temperature just right and also I believe controlling the content of the atmosphere in which they're stored.

Given the unpredictable nature of the ripening process once they're released from this controlled 'hibernation', it's understandable that the distributors want to get them into the shops as soon as possible to avoid them rotting on the shelves, so buying them in this state is pretty unavoidable really.

Happy_Harry

Thanks for this, I will just buy a few hard ones and put them in a paper bag (and buy a tin for back-up).

It is just that I remember buying pears in continental Europe in the shops and eating them immediately... and they were so juicy you could hardly eat them without making a mess. Perhaps they do have different varieties though.

Alun

Happy_Harry wrote: »

Thanks for this, I will just buy a few hard ones and put them in a paper bag (and buy a tin for back-up).

It is just that I remember buying pears in continental Europe in the shops and eating them immediately... and they were so juicy you could hardly eat them without making a mess. Perhaps they do have different varieties though.

It's possible there was a much shorter supply chain between orchard and shop / market stall also, allowing them to put riper pears on display. Modern supermarket supply chains are so long that would prove quite a difficult exercise. Also as you say, different varieties may ripen quicker or slower than others.