I just listened to a podcast about the pear: https://orchardpeople.com/jesuit-pear-trees/ and wonder if anyone is growing it? @clarkinks ? It is described as tiny, sweet / sour, spicy and blight resistant. It was apparently traditionally stored in a fruit cellar until January then canned or pickled (Yuck). It sounds like the flavor profile would make it idea for Perry but it was not mentioned as a cider pear. If it’s main redeeming quality is a canning and storage pear, I can see why it did not compete well with the large Kieffer pears.
Im familiar with the pear due to efforts going on in Canada to inform people of it.
https://orchardpeople.com/jesuit-pear-trees/. There are now websites dedicated to it http://www.jesuitpear.com. The fruit is also on the radar of certain NAFEX members who are feverishly searching the USDA repository since 2017 to acquire the pear International Fruit & Nut Enthusiasts & Breeders: Re: [nafex] Jesuit Pear.
" Thursday, January 26, 2017
Re: [nafex] Jesuit Pear
Looks very much like a seckle.
> On Jan 26, 2017, at 4:46 PM, mIEKAL aND <qazingulaza@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The pear repository has a number of cultivars listed called Mission
> pears which is listed as a synonym in the article you posted. They
> look to have a different shape than the photo of the fruit in the
> article but who knows.
>
> https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?accid=%20PI+617580
>
> ~mIEKAL
>
> On Thu, Jan 26, 2017 at 1:18 PM, Mike Levine <mlevine@umich.edu> wrote:
>> Has anyone heard of the Jesuit Pears that grow in Detroit, MI and Windsor
>> Ontario or similar places? Does anyone have any information about the
>> location of these trees, grafting them, flavor and uses, or any other
>> useful information? Slow Food is considering adding them to the Ark of
>> Taste.
>>
>> https://www.slowfoodusa.org/ark-item/jesuit-pear
>>
>> And that page links to this and some of the other pages out there:
>> Articles | Encyclopédie du patrimoine culturel de l'Amérique française – histoire, culture, religion, héritage
>>
>>
>> thanks,
>> Mike Levine
>> Ann Arbor, MI
>> www.natureandnurtureseeds.com
>> Heirloom and open pollinated seeds for the Great Lakes and beyond
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Margie Luffman seemed to the one responsible for promoting the pear in Canada ECPMGR - 2000 Appendices
Margie Luffman, AAFC Harrow, Clonal Repository Tel: (250) 494-7711; Fax: (250) 494-0755
The pear may be known by a different name in the book The pears of New York as seen here The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Pears of New York, by U. P. Hedrick.
So where does a person get one might be the best question? I think it could be answered best with this link DETROIT’S JESUIT PEAR TREES LISTED IN SLOW FOOD DATABASE – Voyageur Heritage " The Windsor/Detroit region’s historic Jesuit Pear Tree has been accepted into Slow Food USA’s Ark of Taste . The Ark of Taste is an international effort highlighting distinctive culinary traditions and products facing extinction due to a variety of factors, including plant disease, loss of traditions, or low production. Since 1996, the International Ark of Taste has identified 3,500 products from 150 countries. It is an important tool used by chefs, farmers, grocers, and educators to promote our biological, cultural, and culinary heritage, showcasing the links between biodiversity and culture. Currently Ark of Taste USA lists approximately 200 historically and culturally significant products.
In early 2015 a conversation between French-Canadian and Métis cultural advocates Darlene Navarre Darley and James LaForest, led to Darley spearheading an effort to have the Jesuit Pear Trees included in the Ark of Taste. Her efforts led to a tasting of the fruit in Monroe, Michigan in September 2016, the weekend of the Annual French Canadian Descendants Reunion organized by Sandy Vanisacker at the River Raisin National Battlefield Park.
Jesuit Pears at Monroe Tasting event courtesy of Dar Navarre Darley
The tasting was held at the historic Navarre-Anderson Trading Post and organized by Monroe County Historical Museum curator Lynn Reaume. Jean Tremblay, a grower from Pointe-aux-Roches, Ontario provided samples from his family farm of both fresh and pickled pears, and spoke about their history and culinary uses. Representatives of the Midwest SlowFood USA chapter were on hand to complete their investigation into the fruit trees as were several lucky tasters, including Dawn Evoe-Danowski, vice-president of the French Canadian Heritage Society of Michigan. Also attending the tasting was Richard Micka of Sawyer House, City of Monroe. Darley, Evoe-Danowski, and Vanisacker are all descendants of François Navarre who brought Jesuit Pear seedlings from Detroit to Monroe when he founded the settlement in 1789.
The Jesuit Pear Trees were included in the Ark of Taste database as of December 2016. More can be read at the Ark of Taste we bsite as well as in the Encyclopedia of French Cultural Heritage in North America. According to Darley, “the inclusion of the Jesuit Pears in the Ark of Taste will mean exposure to professional growers and food producers, and hopefully create a demand for the pears and trees.” It is hoped that this living link to the founding of Detroit can be perpetuated into the 21st century, and take its place in Detroit’s renaissance, a place once known as the ‘largest village west of Montreal.’
Categories: agriculture, Detroit, French Canadian, Uncategorized, Windsor
Tags: Ark of Taste, Biodiversity, Jesuit Pear Tree, Monroe, Slow Food USA"
This photo seen in the article above does make them look very delicious!
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Here is a link from this years grafting workshop if anyone is interested in aquiring trees Jesuit Pear Tasting and Grafting — Slow Food Huron Valley
Jesuit Pear Tasting and Grafting
-
Sunday, March 17, 2019
-
1:30 PM 4:30 PM
-
Bløm Meadworks100 South 4th AvenueAnn Arbor, MI, 48104(map)
Join us for a Jesuit Pear workshop at Bløm Meadworks in downtown Ann Arbor! This session will include a grafting workshop and a Jesuit Pear tasting. Purchase your tickets in advance for either portion, or both! Meads and ciders produced on site will also be available for purchase during the workshop.
The Jesuit Pear is part of the Slow Food Ark of Taste, a living catalog of delicious and distinctive foods facing extinction. By identifying and championing these foods we keep them in production and on our plates. To learn more about the Jesuit Pear, visit the page on the Ark of Taste website.
Shannon Brines of Brines Farm will lead a hands-on demonstration of how to graft Jesuit Pear scions onto rootstock. Every attendee will complete two grafts that they can take home to plant.
Tasting menu is coming soon and will include several small portions of delicious dishes made with Jesuit Pears by Detroit area chefs.
Tickets: available here. $20 for each the grafting workshop and tasting event, or $35 if you choose both. Each grafting participant will take home 2 trees, and may purchase additional trees for $10 each.
Grafting - 1:30pm - 3:00pm
Tasting - 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Earlier Event: February 24
Later Event: April 14
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Venue Information
100 S 4th Ave Suite 110
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(734) 548-9729
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By the way im not sure at all the jesuit pear aka mission pear is one pear at all. My suspicion is originally they were seedlings much like i grew seedling apples and bad types were grafted to the better types. Mission figs are now considered one type of fig but how many catholic missions grew much fruit? There may be one type of fruit still well known but that is not all the types they grew. The jesuits were no doubt like me fruit experimenters and certainly did plant seeds. You might laugh but the catholic priests in my area frequently still do grow experimental fruits. Nearby my area they grow many types of small plums like ive not seen and cannot easily identify. Find it hard to believe ? Consider that anyone with time and money and love of fruits or vegetables or grains who wants to make the world a better a place eventually strives to cultivate fruits and experiment for the good of everyone and not just themself. Think about Thomas Jefferson and his eleborate orchard. This link contains many individuals like this Question the History of a pear or know some history? Post it here!. One thing well known about pears is they can easily live hundreds of years Napoleon’s army planted pear trees fact or fiction?. The pears of old were not always high quality but some were and the others kept people alive. As a child my mother told me of the jesuits. She was a teacher, worked at a library, daughter of a farmer etc. And she grew up and observed all farmers in her area such as my grandpa grew their own types of fruit they used for their own table fruits on their small empires. The jesuit priests there is no doubt in my mind were doing what people do which is manipulating our environment to better serve humanities needs.
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Excellent research as always @clarkinks. I will see about ordering some scion and save you a couple sticks.
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@39thparallel
This should be the information we need
https://m.facebook.com/BrinesFarm/
6384 Walsh Rd, Whitmore Lake, Michigan 48189
http://www.brines.org/
(734) 926-5463
Thanks