It's Time For A Pear Primer!

I was just at my neighborhood grocery store, Central Market. I love this locally owned and operated grocer simply because they offer an excellent array of products, many of which are regionally sourced. While strolling through the produce department, I noticed that this week's fruit special featured Northwest grown pears for 58 cents a pound. Wow! What a seasonal bargain.

I ambled over to the massive display and found five or six different varieties. My sons love pears, and they generally inhale ripe juicy Bartletts after a long day at school. Faced with an array of pears in all shapes and sizes, I soon realized I was fairly clueless about each variety's merits. I asked the produce guy to give me a quick rundown. He politely obliged.  His points were helpful, but I still felt fairly clueless and bought a few of each variety--Bosc, Comice, Red Bartlett, D'Anjou, and Bartlett.  I knew I really just needed to cut, touch, and taste each one for myself.

At home, I decided to do a little online research and was delighted to find the Pear Bureau Northwest's website. Indeed, this organization will now become my "go to" source for pear info. The website has very thorough information on each variety. There are recipes. There's nutritional information. And, there's even a blog, The Pear Dish, devoted completely to pears.

My pears need a few more days of room temperature storage before they become perfectly ripe. So, before I start to slice and dice, I'm going to be surfing the Pear Bureau's website for more basic instructional pear info and recipes.

Photo by Melissa A. Trainer

--Melissa A. Trainer