A choke pear or chocky-pear is an astringent

Astringent

An astringent substance is a chemical compound that tends to shrink or constrict body tissues, usually locally after topical medicinal application. The word "astringent" derives from Latin adstringere, meaning "to bind fast"...

 fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

. It is (the fruit of) any variety of pear

Pear

The pear is any of several tree species of genus Pyrus and also the name of the pomaceous fruit of these trees. Several species of pear are valued by humans for their edible fruit, but the fruit of other species is small, hard, and astringent....

 that has an astringent taste and that is difficult to swallow.

Varieties

One variety of choke pear is poire d'Angoisse, a variety of pear that was grown in Angoisse

Angoisse

Angoisse is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Population:-External links:* * -See also:*Communes of the Dordogne department...

, a commune in the Arrondissement of Nontron

Arrondissement of Nontron

The arrondissement of Nontron is an arrondissement of France, located in the Dordogne department, in the Aquitaine region. It has 8 cantons and 80 communes.-Cantons:The cantons of the arrondissement of Nontron are:# Bussière-Badil# Champagnac-de-Belair...

 in Dordogne

Dordogne

Dordogne is a départment in south-west France. The départment is located in the region of Aquitaine, between the Loire valley and the High Pyrénées named after the great river Dordogne that runs through it...

, in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

, which was hard, bad tasting, and almost impossible to eat raw.. In the words of L'Académie française

Académie française

L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...

, the pear is "si âpre et si revèche au goût qu'on a de la peine à l'avaler" ("so harsh and crabbed of taste that one can only with difficulty swallow it"). These qualities, and the common meaning of angoisse in French language

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 ("anguish") apparently originated the French idiom avaler des poires d'angoisse ("swallow pears of Angoisse/anguish") meaning "to suffer great displeasures". Possibly because of this idiom, the names "choke pear

Choke pear (torture)

The choke pear is the modern name for a type of instrument displayed in some museums, consisting of a metal body divided into spoon-like segments that could be spread apart by turning a screw...

" and "pear of anguish" have been used for a gagging device allegedly used in Europe, sometime before the 17th century.

Dalechamps has identified this with the species of pear that Pliny the Elder

Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...

 listed as "ampullaceum" in his Naturalis Historia. It like most sour-tasting pear cultivars was most likely used to make perry

Perry

Perry is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears. Perry has been common for centuries in Britain, particularly in the Three Counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, and in parts of south Wales; and France, especially Normandy and Anjou.In more recent years, commercial...

.

Similar fruits

Similarly named trees with astringent fruits include the choke cherry (the common name for several species of cherry

Cherry

The cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy stone fruit. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium....

tree that grow in North America and whose fruits are small and bitter tasting: Prunus virginiana, Prunus demissa, and Prunus serotina) and the choke plum.