Pyrus Communis, State fruit of Oregon. Here in Oregon, we grow an annual crop valued at $110,000,000 USDs. And despite our can do attitude with pears, we are dwarfed by the production by our neighbors California and Washington - both have superior acreage and dollars dedicated to their crop yet neither have resorted to decreeing as the pear as their state fruit. Methinks we are over-compensating a bit.
Nationally, 75-85% of all pear trees yield the Bartlett pear. The Bartlett is where California hands us our collective pear ass on a platter; 3 counties in Northern California do most of the Bartlett growing for the US and exporting.
The Barlett, named after Enoch Bartlett the fella who brought them to the US, it is known as the Williams Pear in most of the world. It is named for the nurseryman who bought them from a Mr. Stair, who discovered the landrace in his Berkshire orchard. It is a fine pear – Musky, grainy in a good way, peartaculiar. It is picked mature but like all pears, it doesn’t ripen on the tree, so it needs to age before it is ready to eat. Modern techniques, such as cold storage and controlled atmosphere, stall the ripening process - extending the pear season well into the winter months.
Here in Oregon, only 1 in 5 pears grown is a Bartlett, the the mother lode of our orcharding comes from the Bosc, D’Anjou and the Comice used in the US. Pears that coincidentally sound like the names 3 Dumas’s 4 Musketeers, revealing their origin. One Louie after the monarch of Musketeers, came Louis XIV, the Sun King. This Louis, who not only loved the divine rights of kings and intrigues at Versailles – also loved him some pears, which led to the pear being fashionable, in turn leading to new varieties and uses for the pear. Abbe, Glau Morceau, Beurre, Jargonelle and Josephine de Malines are other French/Belg hybrids that stem from the glow of the Sun King’s interest.
In the last episode of Saucyman, I wrote of our collective inability to embrace the pear on the same level we do the apple (15+ lbs. fresh annually) or the imported banana (25 lbs. per person). I’d like to rectify that situation: Now that pears have usurped peaches as the local season fruit, most mornings start with pear and yogurt. In the evenings I find myself cutting a pear into salad, or mashing a really ripe pear with blue cheese for a salad dressing.
Some of the kids like their pears savory – the fruit does have a special affinity for salty - Caramelized Onions and cheese go well. The winner of the Double O Nine Portland Farmers Market’s tweet a pear recipe last year won with her suggestion of rosemary, pasta and pears. To close the circle, sliced pears with pecorino is a popular Italian snack.
Outside of the salad, I like my pears sweet – pastry cream, poached and filled with mascarpone or poached in red wine and topped with chocolate. Sauteed on French Toasted or embedded in bread pudding.
How about you?
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