I have some questions about our bland Bartlett and Anjou pears and would appreciate some help.
Some of my pears have passed the tilt test and got picked off the tree, they’re still hard and not at all sweet. Can they get sweeter or is that pretty much it once picked? Will sitting in a fridge for a spell make them sweeter? Is there anything I can do to get them to be sweet but still crunchy like the ones you can buy from the grocery stores?
They are not ripe yet though they are as tree ripe as you can get. Wait for them to soften and change color and they will be much better.
Some pears ripen nicely on the counter, others seem to prefer a week or so in the fridge before being left out to soft.
Appreciate the response guys. I don’t like soft pears, I like them crunchy, so any further ripening is not an option.
The pears are coming off the trees and going straight into the fridge to maintain crispness. I’ll just have to wait a few weeks to see whether a refrigeration period will sweeten a bland pear or not.
I don’t think they get sweeter in the fridge, just on the counter. Not sure if crunchy and sweet are both possible at once.
This is our very first harvest, so we don’t really know what to expect. But from your response, it looks like it’s going to be a bust. Oh well, we’ll see.
We get sweet crunchy pears from the grocery store, not always, but it’s certainly possible to have both.
An asian pear such as drippin honey will be a pear you enjoy.
The conventional wisdom here in CA is that you put them in a brown paper bag and they’ll ripen quickly without mushing up; keep them cool but not cold. Don’t know if it’s a CA thing or what, but it sure seems to work for both apples and pears.
I’ve always preferred crispy pears, but I don’t mind them soft if the flavor is good. Our Bartletts are always sweet before they soften.
A good pear should be sweet while still crisp but get even sweeter when reaching luscious. My Harrow Sweet are dropping off the tree and still haven’t achieved it this season- not sure why.
I’ve had some fine crisp-sweet Bartletts a couple weeks ago from another site I manage nearby.
Pears need full sun here to achieve best quality- even more than other common fruits.
Maybe try growing Harcrisp. Bred to be a Euro crisp pear.