I have a Comice pear tree the flavour is superb but I don't know the right time to pick them .The pears are very big and bend some of the branches down where they are growing can someone give me advice.
And here's something else I didn't notice until this year. As I started to harvest my conference pears this year I realised some came off the tree with a clean break and some didn't want to come away. On inspection I found that the contour of the stalk of some of the pears was totally continuous with the side shoot it had grown on coming out of from the main stem. These pears resisted picking. With others, the end of the pear's stalk had developed a swelling, creating in more advanced cases an actual 'joint' with a line of eventual separation running through it. These fruit, with a careful bend in the right direction (often upwards) broke off cleanly leaving the other half of the 'joint' still on the side stem it had grown from. See pictures...
Tomatoes have a similar swollen 'joint', resembling a knee or elbow, that makes them easy to pick. I presume the swelling contains a mechanism for cutting off food supply to the fruit when the tree is ready to shed it - a bit like the cork layer that grows across the stalk of leaves in Autumn.
I had two of my Conference pears for dessert after supper last evening. Delicious. I simply pick them as they are ready to come away in my hand after I see the first faller and put in my wooden fruit bowl till they turn yellow and give a little when you squeeze the top. There are still some on the tree, some very large too. This year has been good for pears. Usually they take three weeks to ripen in my kitchen.
Yes, thank you pansyface, much better (so far!) I have take about 60 pears off my little tree to date ...
with a few more left to come.
Here's a couple more photos showing more clearly that 'joint' I referred to in yesterday's post. The clearly formed 'joint' is right in the centre of the photo...
...and the clean break can be seen on the end of the pear's stalk, and where it came from is the small lighter coloured patch next to the leaf and other pear stalk...
This pear does not seem ready to separate yet, but there are a couple of indentations just visible that may be where it will eventually separate naturally - if I don't get to it first!
Meant to say, Pansyface, that your living much further north (Peak District) than I do (Norfolk) I would imagine your environment would be a degree or two colder than ours, so your pears probably will take longer to ripen.
I must say that Happymarion's criteria for picking is more or less my strategy. I suspect, however, that I won't be able to keep up with using them all before they ripen too far and rot. Ho hum! Very fortunate to have them in the first place. Might have to share a few around the neighbours.
Aah try poaching them in red wine and freeze for Xmas when you make a chocolate sauce to serve with them. Pear and Japanese quince jam is very good too.
I always put the pears in the fridge a day or two after being picked - they usually last for weeks. This year I have roughly 105 pears, most of them quite large or very large - so might have to buy another fridge!
Posts
My Dad always said to eat a pear at its best you had to sit up all night with it.
I think he was probably right.
My Mum always put one or two at a time in the airing cupboard ate them and then replaced them as she went along.
I have a Comice pear tree the flavour is superb but I don't know the right time to pick them .The pears are very big and bend some of the branches down where they are growing can someone give me advice.
When to pick pears
And here's something else I didn't notice until this year. As I started to harvest my conference pears this year I realised some came off the tree with a clean break and some didn't want to come away. On inspection I found that the contour of the stalk of some of the pears was totally continuous with the side shoot it had grown on coming out of from the main stem. These pears resisted picking. With others, the end of the pear's stalk had developed a swelling, creating in more advanced cases an actual 'joint' with a line of eventual separation running through it. These fruit, with a careful bend in the right direction (often upwards) broke off cleanly leaving the other half of the 'joint' still on the side stem it had grown from. See pictures...
Tomatoes have a similar swollen 'joint', resembling a knee or elbow, that makes them easy to pick. I presume the swelling contains a mechanism for cutting off food supply to the fruit when the tree is ready to shed it - a bit like the cork layer that grows across the stalk of leaves in Autumn.
I had two of my Conference pears for dessert after supper last evening. Delicious. I simply pick them as they are ready to come away in my hand after I see the first faller and put in my wooden fruit bowl till they turn yellow and give a little when you squeeze the top. There are still some on the tree, some very large too. This year has been good for pears. Usually they take three weeks to ripen in my kitchen.
Yes, thank you pansyface, much better (so far!) I have take about 60 pears off my little tree to date ...
with a few more left to come.
Here's a couple more photos showing more clearly that 'joint' I referred to in yesterday's post. The clearly formed 'joint' is right in the centre of the photo...
...and the clean break can be seen on the end of the pear's stalk, and where it came from is the small lighter coloured patch next to the leaf and other pear stalk...
This pear does not seem ready to separate yet, but there are a couple of indentations just visible that may be where it will eventually separate naturally - if I don't get to it first!
Meant to say, Pansyface, that your living much further north (Peak District) than I do (Norfolk) I would imagine your environment would be a degree or two colder than ours, so your pears probably will take longer to ripen.
I must say that Happymarion's criteria for picking is more or less my strategy. I suspect, however, that I won't be able to keep up with using them all before they ripen too far and rot. Ho hum! Very fortunate to have them in the first place. Might have to share a few around the neighbours.
Aah try poaching them in red wine and freeze for Xmas when you make a chocolate sauce to serve with them. Pear and Japanese quince jam is very good too.
Sounds great Marion! Do you poach them whole, or skinned, cored and quartered?
I wonder if I have time to grow a Japanese Quince by Christmas?
I always put the pears in the fridge a day or two after being picked - they usually last for weeks. This year I have roughly 105 pears, most of them quite large or very large - so might have to buy another fridge!