Fruit Maven » Pear

Sexy Fruit for Valentine’s Day

Fruit Maven — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:18:37 +0000

There is something sexy, enticing and adventurous about fruit. In some ways trying a new fruit is like falling in love. It requires abandon and risk. You have to search for it and once found, you have to be patient and careful so you don’t bruise or damage the beautiful nectar inside. Sometimes it works out and you have the most amazing experience, and sometimes you just end up wondering why you wasted so much time admiring something so dull that when you really think about it, kind of smells like vomit.

And so in the spirit of love and Valentine’s Day, I say ditch the flowers and party it up with FRUIT. There are lots of ways to go, so you have no excuses.

Sweet Hearts:
Seckel Pears, Cherimoyas

Not-So-Traditional Flowers:
Mangosteen, Ugli Fruit

Symbols of Love:
Passion Fruit, Pomegranate

Seductive Aphrodisiacs:
Figs, Apples

Direct and to the Point:
Banana, Papaya

Bartlett Pear

Keri — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:44:06 +0000

If there are at least three different bottles of hand sanitizer within 20 feet of you at all times, then this is the fruit for you!

APPEARANCE 4 out of 5 stars

Nice yellow and red skin, gets lots of bruises though so be gentle.

AROMA 4.5 out of 5 stars

Full and fragrant, sultry pear.

TEXTURE 4 out of 5 stars

Perfectly firm but giving; slightly grainy, like most pears.

TASTE 3.5 out of 5 stars

The quintessential pear – nothing detracting but nothing I would go on about either. At least it doesn’t have the papery skin or a bitter aftertaste.

OVERALL 4 out of 5 stars

This is a prissy person’s pear. It tastes very good but doesn’t drip juice all over you (though there is plenty of juice, don’t get me wrong). It discolors easily so there is value in taking great care when transporting it or it will look like the morning consequences of a late night brawl. Also it is normal enough that assuming you haven’t bruised the hell out of it, no attention will be drawn when you slice and eat it with a fork and knife. It’s everything someone uptight needs in an afternoon snack.

FRUIT

Pear

VARIETY

Bartlett

PEAK

Fall-Winter

GROWN

Unknown

PURCHASED

Grocery Store

NOTES

I was about to dismiss this pear as forgettably normal, when I came across this article. Apparently the Bartlett is the same as the Williams Pear, which is the very pear that is used for Williams Pear Schnapps, aka “au de vie of poire williams”. (Don’t I just sound so much more impressive when I say it in French? Yes, I am also currently wearing a tiara.) So of course this immediately caught my cocktail loving attention. Unfortunately, every site I found explaining how to make pear liquor of one kind or another requires crazy things like meat grinders and hammers, growing pears inside a glass bottle, or having access to something called “acid blend“. Fun? Yes. Gonna happen? No. Let me know if you give it a whirl. In the meantime I will be checking out all the pear cocktails on this dedicated pear cocktail blog. And you thought a site about fruit was a narrow niche. Au contraire.

RECIPES

Butternut Squash and Bartlett Pear Soup
Bartlett Pear Muffins (this is an entire site dedicated to pears!)

Shingo Korean Pear

Fruit Maven — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:17:55 +0000

If you feel flattered when someone refers to you as a trophy wife, then this is the fruit for you!

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

Xinjiang Fragrant Pear

Fruit Maven — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:37:31 +0000

If the most romantic thing you’ve ever said is “roses are red, violets are blue, this fruit is delicious and smells good too”, then this is the fruit for…

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.

Seckel Pear

Fruit Maven — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:24:34 +0000

If you think the partridge is in the pear tree because he passionately loves pears, then this is the fruit for you!

APPEARANCE 4.5 out of 5 stars

Very small pear, only about two inches high and a bit tubby around the mid-section, bronze and ruby skin with white flesh

AROMA 3 out of 5 stars

Slightly grassy, fresh smell

TEXTURE 4 out of 5 stars

Tight skin with meltingly cream and juicy flesh

TASTE 4.5 out of 5 stars

The peel has that typical dry, gritty mouth-feel that seems more like a flavor to me than a texture. The flesh is amazingly sweet with concentrated pear flavor

OVERALL 4 out of 5 stars

This is a gorgeous and delicious little snacker. Everything about this pear makes me feel romantic. I mean it is also called the Sugar Pear. Come here Sugar! So delicious and so cute, it even looks like a heart when you slice it in half. I just want to snuggle. If seeing this pear doesn’t make your heart melt, then I dare say you may have no heart because that is just not possible.

FRUIT

Pear

VARIETY

Seckel

PEAK

Fall-Winter

ORIGIN

Pennsylvania

GROWN

Unknown

PURCHASED

Grocery Store

NOTES

I was trying to find something about the partridge in the pear tree from the Twelve Days of Christmas song, when I stumbled across this fantastic lit bit of folklore. I knew I had to pass it along immediately to the many young maidens who read this site. So apparently, according to this site, which is recounting some other site, if you walk around a pear tree backwards three times on Christmas morning, then look up in to the branches, you will see an image of your future husband. My guess is that if you do this, we will have a bunch of women looking anxiously for short, squatty men with bronze skin and a weird wooden growth coming out of their head, but I could be wrong. Let me know ladies.

RECIPES

Seckel Pear Tart with Poire William Cream
Seckel Pear Sandwich
Cele’s Old-Fashioned Pear Cake