European Pear
Encyclopedia
The European Pear, Pyrus communis, is a species of pear
native to central and eastern Europe
and southwest Asia
. The European Pear is one of the most important fruits of temperate regions, being the species from which most orchard
pear cultivar
s grown in Europe, North America
and Australia
have been developed. Two other species of pear, the Nashi Pear
, Pyrus pyrifolia, and the Chinese white pear bai li, Pyrus × bretschneideri, are more widely grown in eastern Asia
.
(syn. P. pyraster) and P. communis subsp. caucasica (syn. P. caucasica), which are interfertile with domesticated pears. Archeological evidence shows that pears "were collected from the wild long before their introduction into cultivation," according to Zohary and Hopf. Although they point to finds of pears in sites in Neolithic
and Bronze Age
European sites, "reliable information on pear cultivation first appears in the works of the Greek
and the Roman
writers." Theophrastus
, Cato the Elder
, and Pliny the Elder
all present information about the cultivation and grafting
of pears.
European pear trees are not quite as hardy as apple
s, but nearly so. They do, however, require some winter chilling to produce fruit. For a list of Lepidoptera
whose caterpillars feed on pear tree leaves, see List of Lepidoptera that feed on pear trees.
For best and most consistent quality, European pears are picked when the fruit matures, but before they are ripe. Fruit allowed to ripen on the tree often drops before it can be picked, and in any event will be hard to pick without bruising. Pears store (and ship) well in their mature but unripe state if kept cold and can be ripened later, a process called bletting
. Some varieties, such as 'Beurre d'Anjou', ripen only with exposure to cold.
Fermented pear juice is called perry
. In Britain the place name Perry
can indicate the historical presence of pear trees.
Relatively few cultivars of European or Asian pear are widely grown worldwide. Only about 20-25 European and 10-20 Asian cultivars represent virtually all the pears of commerce. Almost all European cultivars were chance seedlings or selections originating in western Europe, mostly France. The Asian cultivars all originated in Japan and China. 'Bartlett' (Williams) is the most common pear cultivar in the world, representing about 75% of U.S. pear production.
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....
native to central and eastern Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and southwest Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. The European Pear is one of the most important fruits of temperate regions, being the species from which most orchard
Orchard
An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...
pear cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
s grown in Europe, North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
have been developed. Two other species of pear, the Nashi Pear
Nashi Pear
Pyrus pyrifolia is a pear tree species native to China, Japan, and Korea. The tree's edible fruit is known by many names, including: Asian pear, Chinese pear, Korean pear, Japanese pear, Taiwan pear, and sand pear.....
, Pyrus pyrifolia, and the Chinese white pear bai li, Pyrus × bretschneideri, are more widely grown in eastern Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
.
Origin
The cultivated European pear (P. communis subsp. communis) is thought to be descended from two subspecies of wild pear, categorized as P. communis subsp. pyrasterPyrus pyraster
Pyrus pyraster , also called European Wild Pear, is a species of pear belonging to the Rosaceae family....
(syn. P. pyraster) and P. communis subsp. caucasica (syn. P. caucasica), which are interfertile with domesticated pears. Archeological evidence shows that pears "were collected from the wild long before their introduction into cultivation," according to Zohary and Hopf. Although they point to finds of pears in sites in Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
and Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
European sites, "reliable information on pear cultivation first appears in the works of the Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
and the Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
writers." Theophrastus
Theophrastus
Theophrastus , a Greek native of Eresos in Lesbos, was the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He came to Athens at a young age, and initially studied in Plato's school. After Plato's death he attached himself to Aristotle. Aristotle bequeathed to Theophrastus his writings, and...
, Cato the Elder
Cato the Elder
Marcus Porcius Cato was a Roman statesman, commonly referred to as Censorius , Sapiens , Priscus , or Major, Cato the Elder, or Cato the Censor, to distinguish him from his great-grandson, Cato the Younger.He came of an ancient Plebeian family who all were noted for some...
, and 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...
all present information about the cultivation and grafting
Grafting
Grafting is a horticultural technique whereby tissues from one plant are inserted into those of another so that the two sets of vascular tissues may join together. This vascular joining is called inosculation...
of pears.
Cultivation
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
s, but nearly so. They do, however, require some winter chilling to produce fruit. For a list of Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
whose caterpillars feed on pear tree leaves, see List of Lepidoptera that feed on pear trees.
For best and most consistent quality, European pears are picked when the fruit matures, but before they are ripe. Fruit allowed to ripen on the tree often drops before it can be picked, and in any event will be hard to pick without bruising. Pears store (and ship) well in their mature but unripe state if kept cold and can be ripened later, a process called bletting
Bletting
Bletting is a process that certain fleshy fruits undergo when, beyond ripening, they have started to decay and ferment. There are some fruits that are either sweeter after some bletting, such as sea buckthorn, or for which most varieties can be eaten raw only after bletting, such as medlars,...
. Some varieties, such as 'Beurre d'Anjou', ripen only with exposure to cold.
Fermented pear juice is called 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...
. In Britain the place name Perry
Perry (disambiguation)
Perry is an alcoholic beverage made of fermented pear juice.Perry may also refer to:- Canada :* Perry, Ontario* Perry's Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador* Port Perry, Ontario- England :* Perry, Cambridgeshire* Perry Barr, Birmingham...
can indicate the historical presence of pear trees.
Relatively few cultivars of European or Asian pear are widely grown worldwide. Only about 20-25 European and 10-20 Asian cultivars represent virtually all the pears of commerce. Almost all European cultivars were chance seedlings or selections originating in western Europe, mostly France. The Asian cultivars all originated in Japan and China. 'Bartlett' (Williams) is the most common pear cultivar in the world, representing about 75% of U.S. pear production.
Major cultivars
In the United States, 95% of reported pear production in 2004 came from four cultivars:- 50% Williams' Bon ChrétienWilliams pearThe Williams' bon chrétien pear, commonly called the Williams pear, or Bartlett pear in the U.S. and Canada, is the most commonly grown variety of pear in most countries outside Asia. It is a cultivar of the species Pyrus communis, commonly known as the European pear...
(EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, ca. 1770; a summer pear commonly called Bartlett in the U.S. and Canada, and Williams elsewhere) - 34% Beurre d'AnjouD'AnjouThe D'Anjou pear, sometimes referred to as the Beurré d'Anjou or simply Anjou, is a short-necked cultivar of European Pear. The variety was originally named Nec Plus Meuris in Europe and the name Anjou or d'Anjou was erroneously applied to the variety when introduced to America and England...
(FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, a winter pear commonly called just d'Anjou) - 10% Beurre BoscBosc PearThe Beurré Bosc or Bosc is a cultivar of the European Pear grown in the northwestern U.S. states of California, Washington, and Oregon; Australia; as well as in British Columbia, Ontario and Europe, where it is sometimes called Kaiser.Characteristic features are a long tapering neck and russeted...
(Also known as Kaiser Alexander, a winter pear commonly called just Bosc or Kaiser) - 1% Doyenné du Comice (France, 1849; commonly called Comice pears)
Selected European Pear cultivars
- 'Abate Fetel' (syn. Abbé Fetel; a major cultivar in Italy)
- 'Ayers' (United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
- an interspecific P. communis × P. pyrifolia hybrid from the University of Tennessee) - 'Blake's Pride' (United States)
- 'Blanquilla' (or 'pera de agua' and 'blanquilla de Aranjuez', Spain)
- 'Butirra Precoce Morettini'
- 'Carmen'
- 'Clara Frijs' (major cultivar in Denmark)
- 'Concorde' (England - a seedling of 'Conference' × 'Doyenné du Comice)
- 'Conference' (EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, 1894) - 'Corella' (Australia)
- 'Coscia' (very early maturing cultivar from Italy)
- 'Don Guindo' (Spain - strong yellow, flavoured taste)
- 'Doyenné du Comice' (France)
- 'Dr. Jules Guyot'
- 'Forelle'
- 'Glou Morceau' (BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, 1750) - 'Gorham' (United States)
- 'Harrow Delight' (CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
) - 'Harrow Sweet' (Canada)
- 'Joséphine de Malines' (Belgium - obtained by Esperen, pomologist and major of Malines in the 19th century; one of the best late season pears)
- 'Kieffer' (United States - a hybrid of the Chinese "sand pear", P. pyrifolia and probably 'Bartlett')
- 'Laxton's Superb' (England; no longer used due to high susceptibility to fireblightFireblightFire blight, also written fireblight, is a contagious disease affecting apples, pears, and some other members of the family Rosaceae. It is a serious concern to producers of apples and pears...
) - 'Louise Bonne' (France)
- 'Luscious' (United States)
- 'Merton Pride' (England, 1941)
- 'Orient' (United States - an interspecific P. communis × P. pyrifolia hybrid)
- 'Packham's Triumph' (AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, 1896) - 'Pineapple' (United States - an interspecific P. communis × P. pyrifolia hybrid)
- 'Red Bartlett' (United States - There are three major red-skinned mutant clones: 'Max Red Bartlett', 'Sensation Red Bartlett', 'Rosired Bartlett')
- 'Rocha' (Portugal)
- 'Rosemarie' (South Africa)
- 'Seckel' (United States; late 17th century Philadelphia area; still produced, naturally resistant to fireblightFireblightFire blight, also written fireblight, is a contagious disease affecting apples, pears, and some other members of the family Rosaceae. It is a serious concern to producers of apples and pears...
) - 'Starkrimson', also called Red Clapp's, is a red-skinned 1939 MichiganMichiganMichigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
bud mutation of Clapp's Favourite. Its thick, smooth skin is a uniform, bright and intense red, and its creamy flesh is sweet and aromatic. - 'Summer Beauty'
- 'Sudduth'
- 'Taylor's Gold' (New Zealand - a russeted mutant clone of 'Comice')