Pear is a bulblike fruit popular for its sweet taste and juicy, sometimes gritty flesh. There are hundreds of varieties of pear. Some pears have a rounded end that narrows to a thin stem. Other pears have a more applelike shape. Pears may be brown, yellow, green, or red. Some pears can weigh about half a pound (230 grams), but other pears are as small as cherries. Pears are closely related to apples and quince. All three fruits belong to the rose family.
Pears rank among the oldest cultivated fruit crops. People have grown pears for more than 7,000 years. French and English colonists brought pears to North America by 1630. Today, pears are produced commercially in many countries. China produces about three-fourths of the world’s pear crop. Other leading producers include Argentina, Italy, South Africa, Turkey, and the United States. Most pears grown in the United States are eaten fresh. Pears may also be canned or processed to make juice, jelly, or dried slices.
Pears consist of about 83 percent water and 15 percent carbohydrates (sugars, starches, and related nutrients). They also contain fiber, protein, and fat, as well as calcium, iron, niacin, phosphorous, potassium, riboflavin, and vitamins A and C.
Varieties.
The European pear, also called the common pear, is native to southern Europe and Asia, near the Black and Caspian seas. European pears have fairly thin, smooth skin and soft, mildly sweet white or yellowish flesh. In some varieties, the flesh contains thick-walled cells that give it a gritty texture. The most important European pear varieties include Bartlett, Bosc, and Anjou. Bartlett pears are often canned.
Asian pears are native to central and southern China. They are also called Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Oriental, or sand pears. Asian pears are usually copper-colored with large raised spots. Their flesh is firm, crisp, juicy, and extremely sweet. Commonly grown Asian pears include Shinseiki, Hosui, and Niitaka.
A pear has a core in its center, much as an apple does. The core has five seed cavities. European pears have up to 10 seeds, but Asian pears may have more.
Raising pears.
European pear trees usually grow about 30 to 45 feet (9 to 14 meters) tall. But in commercial orchards, the trees are often kept at a height of less than 20 feet (6 meters). The trees have oval-shaped leaves with pointy tips. White flowers grow on the trees in clusters of 4 to 12 blossoms. Asian pear trees often have 20 flowers in each cluster. Pear trees may not produce fruit for the first 5 to 10 years, but many trees live 75 years or more.
Planting and care.
Pear farmers do not grow trees from seeds. As with other fruit trees, pear trees grown from seeds will produce a less desirable fruit than the parent tree. To ensure new pear trees have desirable qualities, farmers plant pears by grafting. In grafting, the farmer cuts a bud from an old, healthy tree and attaches it to a rootstock. Rootstocks are young trees and may be seedlings or rooted cuttings. The bud and rootstock grow into a single tree. The tree bears pears of the same variety as the bud’s original tree. But the tree also takes on some qualities of the rootstock’s tree, such as resistance to diseases or soil moisture. Some rootstocks can produce dwarf trees. See Grafting.
Large nurseries specializing in fruit trees can design specific kinds of new pear trees by grafting. They grow the grafted young trees in the nursery for a year. Then they ship the trees to farms to be replanted.
Pear trees are usually planted 18 to 25 feet (5 to 8 meters) apart. Dwarf trees and Asian pear trees can be planted 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 meters) apart. Pear trees grow in heavy, wet soils better than do other fruit trees. Most commonly grown varieties can withstand cold winter temperatures as low as –40 °F (–40 °C). But pears also grow well in the hot, dry coastal regions of the western United States.
Pear farmers usually apply fertilizer in early spring to improve tree growth. Pear trees are pruned in late winter to ensure that sunlight reaches more leaves and to maintain the trees’ desired shapes. Usually, pear trees are grown with three main branches, although some are grown with a single trunk.
Pear trees, like other fruit trees, produce fruit by pollination. But a pear tree often does not produce desirable fruit with its own pollen. Therefore, a farmer usually plants at least two varieties of pear trees near each other so they cross-pollinate. Insects, especially honey bees, carry the pollen from one tree to another.
Diseases and pests.
Pear trees are vulnerable to many kinds of diseases. These diseases include collar rot, leaf spot, pear decline, powdery mildew, and scab.
Fire blight, a disease caused by bacteria, is a serious problem in most pear-growing regions, especially in the eastern United States. Fire blight spreads rapidly in warm, humid weather. It enters trees through their blossoms and through wounds in young shoots. Infected blossoms and shoots die and turn black without losing their leaves, giving the tree a scorched appearance. The bacteria can spread throughout the whole tree within three months after the initial infection. Pear growers combat fire blight by pruning infected parts of the tree. They also spray the trees with solutions and bacteria-killing chemicals called antibiotics to prevent infection.
Pear trees are also vulnerable to insect pests. Pear psylla, a small insect, feeds on pear leaves, producing a fluid called honeydew. The honeydew, in turn, supports the growth of sooty mold, which can spread to the fruit. Another insect pest, the codling moth, hatches caterpillars that eat the fruit. Mites, such as the pear-leaf blister mite, cause greenish pimples on the undersides of leaves. The blisters eventually turn brown. The mite feeds on developing fruits, causing them to become deformed. Other insect pests include aphids, leaf rollers, Oriental fruit moths, plant bugs, scale insects, and stink bugs. Some pests can be controlled with insecticides.
Harvesting and processing.
European pears must be picked after they grow to full size but before they are ripe. If they ripen on the trees, their centers may become mushy. But if the pears are picked too early, they shrivel in storage and lack sweetness and flavor. It is difficult to determine the best harvest date for European pears. Asian pears ripen on the trees and are usually picked when their skin color changes from green to greenish yellow.
Most pears ripen slowly after they are picked. To ripen evenly, they need to be chilled after harvest to about 30 °F (–1 °C). If the pears are not chilled, the fruit may shrivel and decay without ripening. The period of chilling varies among pear varieties. Bartlett pears need to be chilled for only a day or two, while Anjou and Bosc pears require two to six weeks of chilling.
Once the pears are chilled, they need to be ripened. Ripening requires high humidity and a temperature from about 65 to 75 °F (18 to 24 °C). Ripening time differs for each pear variety. For example, Bartlett pears need 4 to 5 days, whereas Anjou need 7 to 9 days. Pears are ready to eat when the flesh just below the stem yields slightly on squeezing.
