Pears 

Organic varieties available; packnam, williams (bartlett), nashi, buerre bosc, winter nells.

Pears are available from early autumn and have a relative long season in Australia, lasting until summer.  Pears are usually teamed with apples due to the similar inner core but the pears texture is more buttery and grittier. The bottom heavy bell shape of this fruit gave name to the ‘pear shaped body’.

Although pears are a good eating fruit, they are better as a cooking fruit.  They do seem to have a small window when they are perfect for eating as they can ripen quickly once picked.  They tend to ripen from the inside out, therefore once the surface of the fruit is well ripe, stewing is the best option.  They are one of the rare fruits that ripen off the tree, rather than attached.

Popular varieties of pears are the packnam, buerre bosc, williams and the Japanese nashi (round shape rather than ‘pear’).  It is interesting to note that the nashi is just the Japanese word for pear and they have their own varieties of ‘nashi’, what is available in Australia is the nijisseiki.  When the nashi pear was trying to fit into the Australian market, it sold itself as a cross between and apple and a pear because of its apple like texture.

Packam, williams and the bosc pears can be eaten either crisp or soft, depending on preference.  Some people eat packnams only when they are crisp while they will eat softer buerre bosc.  Both are good for cooking.  Nashi pears should be crisp and juicy and are best as an eating pear.  There is also a red williamvariety which looks spectacular in salads.  Winter nells, as the name suggests, are harvested in winter and are a good cooking variety. Very ripe pears will disintegrate quickly when cooked and just ripe pears are a better choice if you want them to keep their shape.