I’m considering growing some of my pears in some of the little plastic molds that force the fruit to grow into a specific shape. Euro pears might go in buddha molds and maybe I’d try some Asian pears in some heart molds. I’m hoping it might help deter some critters, since a few years ago I grew some pears inside of bottles to use for making pear brandy and those were the only ones that actually were still on the tree after the squirrels stole the rest. Plus it seems fun to do.
Since it is hard to figure out exactly how big the pears might get and you don’t want them so big that they don’t fill out the shape, I’m sure at some point the mold constrains the overall size (total volume) of the fruit. What impacts might this have on texture, etc. or any other issues? Has anyone here done it and had success?
Again, it is mostly just for fun, so it is okay if it doesn’t work out, but I’d like to know what to expect which might help me decide how many molds to bother with.
First off, I’ve not tried this before. I have thought of it and looked into it several times having seen the cubic watermelons from Japan.
Your question is exactly my concern/question.
I’d be worried a cheaper thin plastic mold would potentially break if the fruit wants to size much bigger than the mold. Alternatively if it’s too big you don’t get the shape filled out.
I think if the mold is a good one on a pear it should limit the size to that of the mold. Pour water into one side of the mild and measure in a measuring cup x2 to get volume. Compare to your average fruit size. I’d think the mold should be slightly smaller than the average fruit size.
Nothing to lose but a fruit or two anyway. I’d apply it on a dry afternoon with the lowest humidity of the day and make sure it’s designed to not let moisture in.
Let us know next year how it goes. It’s a great way to make something special as a gift or a dinner centerpiece.
Either way, it will be fun. I’ll post here if/when I buy some molds, since I’m afraid they’ll wind up being a lot smaller than they appear in the product listings. That’s probably the first challenge.
When we grew the pears inside of bottles, we had to choose a pear on the end of a shoot and pull off some leaves to get it inside the bottles, so they wound up growing smaller as a result anyway. But is sure was fun to give people a bottle of booze with a pear floating around in it as a gift. I think I’ll grow some in bottles again this year as well. Here was my post from that adventure:
And here is what it looked like when we originally set them up. This reminds me that we tied them off to stakes with the bottle opening pointing down, something I should probably try to do with any fruit molds as well.
Maybe try blending or mashing a couple fruits to determine an average volume amongst them (measure ounces and divide by # of fruit). Then find the appropriate size mold?
There are lots of video on you tube of people using them. I thought about buying some last year for fun. Japan is famous for using them to get more money for the fruit.
I was considering using molds several years ago on watermelons. I changed my mind quickly after finding out how expensive those molds cost. I mean good quality, hard plastic ones.
For pears, such molds probably will cost less. Look forward to seeing your experiment.