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

WHERE TO GET THEM

You can buy Shingo Asian Pears at some standard grocery stores and asian specialty stores and online here. If you get them online, a small amount will go to support the Fruit Maven. So thanks in advance!

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