Pears at their peak: how to ripen, store, bake and poach them
October is pear month in Swedish gardens and Italian orchards. Which varieties to look for, how to tell when they are ready, and what to do with a whole basket.
Apples get all the attention in October, but pears are the quieter treasure. In Swedish gardens the late varieties are coming off the trees now, and in Piedmont the cooking pears are piled up at every market, waiting to be simmered in red wine. A ripe pear is one of the great pleasures of the season. An unripe one is a crunchy disappointment, and an overripe one is a sad, grainy mess. The trick is all in the timing.
Varieties to look for
In Sweden you will find old garden favourites alongside imported fruit. In Italy, Emilia-Romagna grows most of the country's pears, while Piedmont keeps its own cooking varieties.
- Clara Frijs: a Danish variety and one of the most common garden pears in Sweden. Sweet, juicy and soft when ripe. Best eaten fresh.
- Conference: long, slim and russeted. Firm, holds its shape when cooked, and keeps well. A good all-rounder for baking.
- Herzogin Elsa: a classic in Swedish gardens, with a russet blush and sweet, aromatic flesh.
- Williams: known as Bartlett in America. Very fragrant and juicy, lovely for eating and for preserving in syrup.
- Abate Fetel: the tall, elegant Italian pear with a long neck. Crisp, sweet and good raw with cheese.
- Martin Sec and Madernassa: small, firm Piedmont pears made for cooking. My nonna poached them whole in red wine every autumn.
How to ripen and store them
Most pears are picked mature but still hard, and they ripen off the tree. Unlike most fruit, they ripen from the inside out, so by the time the belly feels soft the core can already be mushy. Test the neck instead. Press gently near the stem with your thumb. When it gives a little, the pear is ready.
- To ripen: leave hard pears at room temperature in a bowl, out of direct sun. Most take two to five days.
- To speed it up: put them in a paper bag with a ripe banana or apple. Those fruits release ethylene, the gas that triggers ripening.
- Once ripe: move them to the fridge. Cold slows ripening right down and buys you a few extra days.
- Bruises: pears bruise easily. Store them in a single layer and never at the bottom of a heavy shopping bag.
Bella's tip: Ripen pears on your counter, not in the fridge. A pear that goes into the fridge hard often never softens properly, even when you take it out again.
Eat, bake, poach, preserve
A perfectly ripe pear needs nothing more than a wedge of Gorgonzola or aged pecorino and a few walnuts. For baking, choose pears that are just ripe and still firm, like Conference, so the slices keep their shape in the oven. Fan them over almond cream in a tart, or bake them under a spiced crumble.
Recipe: pear and almond tart
Recipe: chai spiced pear crumble with brown butter oats
For poaching, firm pears are best, even slightly underripe ones. Peel them, keep the stalk on, and simmer gently in red wine with sugar, cinnamon and a strip of orange peel until a knife slides in easily. Leave them overnight in the liquid and they turn a deep ruby all the way through.
Recipe: red wine poached pears
Guide: cooking with wine
To preserve, pack peeled halves into sterilised Weck jars with a light sugar syrup and a vanilla pod, and heat-process them. Or slice pears thinly and dry them in a low oven at around 50 °C until leathery. Soft, bruised pears make a lovely pear butter, cooked down slowly with a little lemon and spice until thick and dark.
And if you have a few left over at the end of the week, purée one with a little lemon and shake it into a cocktail. Pear and bourbon get on very well.
Recipe: spiced pear and rosemary sour
Press the neck, not the belly. The pear will tell you when it is ready.
