APPEARANCE 4 out of 5 stars

Perfect looking, unblemished bronze, russetted skin with white flesh; slightly bigger than a softball and weighing about a pound. The package used the word “JUMBO” and I don’t disagree.

AROMA 4.5 out of 5 stars

Sweet and spicy.

TEXTURE 4.5 out of 5 stars

Paper thin skin, extremely juicy and crunchy, not hard at all.

TASTE 4.5 out of 5 stars

Bright and lemony combined with a butterscotch sweetness.

OVERALL 4.38 out of 5 stars

This is a really yummy pear. It seems a little tooooo perfect though. As I was eating it I kept thinking I was eating futuristic alien fruit. Why is this thing so perfect? I find that to be highly suspicious but not so suspicious that I stopped eating it. I mean it tasted great and I’m not an idiot.

FRUIT

Korean Pear

VARIETY

Shingo

PEAK

Fall-Winter

Origin

Korea

GROWN

Unknown

PURCHASED

Trader Joe’s

NOTES

Apparently there is some sort of bulletin out on fruit physiological disorders and the Shingo at large is suffering from one such disorder: internal browning! I point this out because of the perceived perfection of this fruit, not out of any great concern. HA HA you perfect little jumbo – now we know about your soft underbelly. Thank goodness our disorders aren’t posted on the internet like that.

RECIPES

Asian Pear Cake
Korean Pears Sauce

APPEARANCE 3.5 out of 5 stars

Oval body with wobbly lumps here and there, greenish yellow skin and slight red blushing, long stems and white flesh.

AROMA 5 out of 5 stars

The first one of these that I had smelled like a rose. I couldn’t stop talking about it. But every one I’ve had since then has smelled like a mild apple and pear with only the tiniest floral scent.  Nonetheless I am rating this a five based solely on that first one and the sweet, loving, rosy memory that is etched forever into my mind.

TEXTURE 5 out of 5 stars

Really crunchy, juicy and airy; I find the texture to be very satisfying and compelling; I just want to keep biting it except it is so easy to eat that after four or five bites it’s gone – nothing like those carrot bites that just go on and on and on with chewing and you have to use a gulp of water to get it down. No – nothing like that.

TASTE 3.5 out of 5 stars

Very soft flavor but with lots of layers; some bites seem bland, some floral, some spicy, some citrusy, some sweet.

OVERALL 4.25 out of 5 stars

This is a fun little pear and if they all smelled like roses, I would want to wear them on my lapel. (Yes, I use the word “lapel”. Shut up.) Luckily (I suppose) they don’t smell that heavenly and so I don’t have to endure the public mockery – at least, not for that anyway.

FRUIT

Pear

VARIETY

Xinjiang Fragrant

PEAK

Fall-Winter

ORIGIN

Xinjiang, China

GROWN

Unknown

PURCHASED

Asian Market

NOTES

If you see these, get the ones with the slight red blush. According to the lovely older gentleman at the market, those are much better. If you want to read up on Fragrant Pears and their 1300 year history, there is a New York Times article here, which also quotes a fruit importer named Jacky Chan. I can’t help but imagine someone doing flips through the custom lines, karate chopping the officials, smiling for the security cameras and tossing pears through the air to cohorts. Fruit importing is bad ass.

APPEARANCE 4 out of 5 stars

Pale yellow, almost see-through skin with white to beige flesh.

AROMA 4 out of 5 stars

Mellow but full bodied smell, reminds me of apple and maybe nutmeg and maybe butterscotch though not sweet really.

TEXTURE 4.5 out of 5 stars

Crazy juicy – drips all over, makes a huge juicy mess! Grainy but in a good way – very very crunchy and crispy. Has a dry thin peel, almost like rice paper. The peel isn’t particularly bad, but I could certainly do without it and would love if some mom or dad somewhere would just show up and peel and slice it for me (and then leave) before I eat it.

TASTE 3.5 out of 5 stars

Mild sweetness with a prominent lemon note that isn’t acidic at all. Very rounded, full flavor though subtle.

OVERALL 4 out of 5 stars

I don’t tend to be a lover of Asian pears generally as they are all texture and juice with little actual flavor. This one is still mild, but much more interesting and it doesn’t have that annoying aftertaste that so many pears have. Completely lovely.

FRUIT

Asian Pear

VARIETY

Twentieth Century (Nijisseiki)

PEAK

Fall

ORIGIN

Japan

GROWN

Tottori, Japan

PURCHASED

Asian Specialty Market

NOTES

Typically southern California grocery stores and even vendors at the farmer’s market have one kind of asian pear and they have no idea what variety it is – just “Asian Pear”. So I went to the asian market hoping they would have more choices. They had tons of options with the variety names and where they were grown and everything! I was in heaven – Shinseiko, Shinko, Fragrant, Yali, 20th Century, Kosui, Hosui, etc. As I was drooling over the plethora of asian pear options, I turned around to look at their apple selection only to find a pile of “Green Apple” and “Red Apple”. Sweet.

RECIPES

Asian Pear Slaw with Chilies (scroll down for recipe)
Asian Apple Pear Wine

APPEARANCE 4 out of 5 stars

Large tear shaped pear with pale yellow skin, a long brown stem and white flesh

AROMA 3.5 out of 5 stars

Sweet with the slightest bit of butterscotch

TEXTURE 4 out of 5 stars

Very thin skin with crunchy, grainy, and juicy flesh

TASTE 2.5 out of 5 stars

Fairly bland and watery, some sweetness, a hint of lemon with a mildly bitter peel

OVERALL 3.5 out of 5 stars

I am not impressed at all with this pear.  I suppose it could be good in a salad for texture and juice, but flavor is so boring I fell asleep chewing it. If I wanted crunchy water, I would just eat ice and save my two dollars.

FRUIT

Pear

VARIETY

Yali

PEAK

Fall-Winter

ORIGIN

China

GROWN

Kingsburg Orchards
Kingsburg, CA

PURCHASED

Grocery Store

NOTES

I have read that these can be very sweet pears, likened to Verner’s gingerale. Mine were nothing like that, but maybe I’ll give them another try if I see them again. Or maybe I won’t as there are just much better pears out there. Who knows.

RECIPES

Arugula, Ya Li Pear and Blue Cheese Salad
Sweet Steamed Asian Pears

APPEARANCE 2 out of 5 stars

This pear is humongous. It would take three grown men to eat it in a sitting. Just ridiculous for a pear. Yellowish green skin and brown speckling with white flesh.

AROMA 2 out of 5 stars

None

TEXTURE 2.5 out of 5 stars

Crunchy, airy, slightly gritty, like munching on fine sandpaper only not so weird

TASTE 4 out of 5 stars

Mildly spicy vanilla sweetness

OVERALL 2.63 out of 5 stars

Who would have guessed that this swollen ball of gritty neutrality would taste great? This pear is just a whole lot of fun with a spicy vanilla flavor upon first bite, fading almost immediately with no aftertaste. It made me want to keep biting in to it to get that first initial zing. Yum.

FRUIT

Asian Pear

VARIETY

Unknown (Seuri?)

PEAK

Unknown

ORIGIN

Japan (China?)

GROWN

Fresno, CA

PURCHASED

Farmer’s Market

NOTES

The following names all appear to be fairly interchangeable.  It is the variety that differentiates –  asian pear, nashi or nashi pear, African pear, Japanese pear, Korean pear, Taiwan pear, sand pear, apple pear, bapple, papple, bae li. So who knows what this one is. Let the following conversation illustrate the problem.

Me at farmer’s market: Oh wow – what is this?
Purveyor: It’s an asian pear
Me: Oh – so is that different from this? (pointing to the yellow brown asian pear that I have seen in grocery stores)
Him: um. {blink blink} Well. Yes. That is an asian pear and so is this.
Me: I see. So is this a special kind of Asian Pear?
Him: Yes, exactly. This is a Japanese pear.
Me: Oh cool – so its from Japan. So it is a Japanese Asian Pear then?
Purveyor: Well, its actually from Fresno. But yes it is a Japanese Pear. That Asian Pear over there is actually from Japan.
Me: But the one from Japan is not a Japanese Pear?
Him: No. This one is the Japanese Pear.
Me: Gosh thanks. That just clears it right up!

RECIPES

Morimoto’s Asian Pear Salad
Ricotta Stuffed Asian Pear with Cinnamon