Page 16 - Simply Vegetables Autumn 2023

Pearfection
Firstly I will cover some of the
many varieties available and my recommendations and later in the article comment on the rootstocks and growing.
The Varieties
Doyenne d Ete. Small, round with small amounts of colour, turns slightly yellow when ready to eat, soon goes over. Moderately sweet, no crunch, not melting. Season late July. You can be really snobbish and mix some up in a dish of soft fruit. Bambinella. A Maltese pear, small, roundish, sweet, and crunchy, gritty near the core. Season, mid August.
Beurre Precose Morettini (BPM).
Moonglow. Can be large, still green when spot on, by the time it turns yellow it’s about past it. Slightly astringent, scab resistant. Some years it’s the best pear, some years it’s the worst. You can just taste one of its parents, Williams (Bartlet). Merton Pride. Large, high-class pear, one of the best, cropping poor, melting, sweet and very juicy. Flavour, shrieks Williams, skin gold spot/blotches overlaying a
green background. A really classy looker with taste, sweetness and juiciness to match. Season, mid September. Highly recommended.
Gorham. Good cropper, medium sized fruit, delicious, sweet, juicy and melting. Turns golden when ripe. Season around
Medium sized fruit, some colour on some of the fruit, slightly lacking in sweetness, texture spot on, melting and juicy. Works well as an oblique cordon, reliable cropper, blossom has some frost hardiness. Season 3rd
Beurre Hardy. One of the best. Slight rose water flavour in a good year, juicy and melting
three weeks; tend to crack around the eye in
a wet season. Season mid September onwards. Recommended. Triomphe de Vienne. Large, high-quality pear, crisp, crunchy, juicy,
very sweet. Another high-class pear. Turns golden when ripe, season mid September. Highly recommended.
Louise Bonne Jersey.
Espalier pear, Charles Ernest
brown, these fruits drop sooner than the less coloured ones. Needs daily attention when approaching maturity. Season, mid September onwards. Highly recommended. Marguerite Marillat. On QA rootstock it is very large and ugly. Sweet with moderate amount of juice; and crunchy if caught right. Tends to be biennial. Season is mid September.
Conference. Needs little description, sweet, juicy, melting, skin can be very coarse verging on sandpaper some years, fruits on QC rootstocks tend to be small, huge on QA. Season, late September onwards. Good cropper, partly self fertile. Concorde. Can be large on QA rootstocks.
to 4th week in August,
around three weeks,
highly recommended.
Beth. Small fruit, good
cropper, sweet and
melting, requires mandatory thinning and watering, occasionally has an insipid year when not worth picking- still one of the best. Season late August/early September, around three weeks. I find a bush is the best form, cordons did not work for me. Recommended.
Small, in a good year very attractive colour, but mostly a glossy green, smooth skin with conspicuous lenticels. If it turns yellow, you are too late. Pick, wait about two days then consume. Has its own unique slightly astringent flavour. Sweet and juicy. Season mid to late September. Generally, drops
its crop, requires daily attention from mid September onwards.
Beurre Hardy. One of the best. Slight rose water flavour in a good year, juicy and melting. Mine tends to be biennial. In a good Summer, the skin is a ruddy
Clapp’s Favourite. Medium to large fruit, colour on some of the fruits, good cropper, flavour - never makes it in UK, I tried it in Belgium, didn’t work there either. Season early to mid September, a good exhibition pear.
Concorde
Doyenne du Comice pear
Pear, Charles Ernest
16 Simply Vegetables
ADRIAN BAGGALEY