Comments on: food fest 10: can i eat these mystery pears?

By: Theresa

Theresa — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:44:05 +0000

We moved in to this old house in the woods in 1999. It has two of these strange pear trees in our back yard. I look forward to pear season every year. These pears are only good for putting up as preserves, pear butter and sliced in lite syrup for pies and cobblers. I even put some of the cooked ones put up for pies in the food processor to make pear sauce as a substitute for apple sauce in muffins and such. Some of them get as big as softballs, look out below!!!

By: Margaret

Margaret — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:55:45 +0000

Welcome, Susan, and thank you for the story of your pears. My tree is very, very old and large, and you are probably right: though it gets some pruning, it hasn’t been fed in decades or longer, I suspect. Hope to see you again soon.

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:22:40 +0000

I had two Kieffers (as i have recently discovered), and the first couple of years, the pears were small and rock hard, as you describe. One year i decided to have them pruned and fertilized (organically w/ application to roots), and the next season they were absolutely amazing. I had bushels of the biggest, most succulent pears ever. They were hard, but crispy and sweet like apples, and that’s the way i ate them. Even canned them. They were the size of mangoes…probably 2 lb apiece. Last year i had so many i couldn’t get rid of them all. I pruned late winter this year, and the crop was smaller, but the size of the pears was astounding. i just finished canning all of them. A hint i picked up this year is that when the first pears start to drop, then pick them all, wrap them individually in paper (i used plain newsprint left over from a move), and store them in a cool place…i used an old fridge at about 40 degrees. Then a week before i wanted to can them, i brought them out and kept them at room temp. They were ripe but still firm. Actually, i think i liked the ones i canned last year when they were still crisp…they held their shape better, and i liked the texture better. Hope this helps.