Our pear tree has finally made pears this year. They are hard as rocks
and my recipes talk about Seckel and Kieffer. Anyone know which of these
are rock hard pears?

Belinda

in article , Bilherbs at
wrote on 5/10/03 1:49 pm:

> Our pear tree has finally made pears this year. They are hard as rocks
> and my recipes talk about Seckel and Kieffer. Anyone know which of these
> are rock hard pears?
>
> Belinda
seckels, in my experience , tend to be pretty hard. ( Alan Davidson , in his
book "Fruit" describes them as having a granular texture.) However, our
Fruit Tree Project ( which harvests back yard and city parking strip trees
that no one else wants to harvest) picked a tree of what we thought were
seckels ( and pears were falling off the tree) which were quite hard. After
a week and a half they turned into quite easy to eat, relatively soft pears.
I know that bartletts are picked before they are soft,but thought that
winter pears were not. these may have been winter nelis, though my
childhood memories of winter nelis were of a hard pear. I can't find Kieffer
pears listed in any of my references
Ellen

Ellen Wickberg wrote:
> in article , Bilherbs at
> wrote on 5/10/03 1:49 pm:
>
>
>>Our pear tree has finally made pears this year. They are hard as rocks
>>and my recipes talk about Seckel and Kieffer. Anyone know which of these
>>are rock hard pears?
>>
>>Belinda
>
> seckels, in my experience , tend to be pretty hard. ( Alan Davidson , in his
> book "Fruit" describes them as having a granular texture.) However, our
> Fruit Tree Project ( which harvests back yard and city parking strip trees
> that no one else wants to harvest) picked a tree of what we thought were
> seckels ( and pears were falling off the tree) which were quite hard. After
> a week and a half they turned into quite easy to eat, relatively soft pears.
> I know that bartletts are picked before they are soft,but thought that
> winter pears were not. these may have been winter nelis, though my
> childhood memories of winter nelis were of a hard pear. I can't find Kieffer
> pears listed in any of my references
> Ellen
>

Kieffer is a big, hard, gristly pear. They are unusually blight resistant,
and I think they are self-fruiting. And they are very good for cooking and
canning.

Best regards,
Bob

Kieffer are generally hard and must be picked and allowed to "rest" for
a while to soften and eat. I just skin, cut up and eat them crisp. Best
pears in the world for making stuff. Stuff like pear slices in a very
light syrup (just made a cobbler out of some I canned last year), pear
sauce, pear honey, pear jam and pear wine. Most Kieffers, in my
experience, are more rounded than pear shaped, some get as big as
grapefruits, have a greenish yellow speckled skin, and are very hardy.
They generally ripen in the fall down here in SW Louisiana.

George

Bilherbs wrote:
> Our pear tree has finally made pears this year. They are hard as rocks
> and my recipes talk about Seckel and Kieffer. Anyone know which of these
> are rock hard pears?
>
> Belinda

zxcvbob wrote:

> Ellen Wickberg wrote:
>
>> in article , Bilherbs at
>> wrote on 5/10/03 1:49 pm:
>>
>>
>>> Our pear tree has finally made pears this year. They are hard as rocks
>>> and my recipes talk about Seckel and Kieffer. Anyone know which of these
>>> are rock hard pears?
>>>
>>> Belinda
>>
>>
>> seckels, in my experience , tend to be pretty hard. ( Alan Davidson ,
>> in his
>> book "Fruit" describes them as having a granular texture.) However, our
>> Fruit Tree Project ( which harvests back yard and city parking strip
>> trees
>> that no one else wants to harvest) picked a tree of what we thought were
>> seckels ( and pears were falling off the tree) which were quite hard.
>> After
>> a week and a half they turned into quite easy to eat, relatively soft
>> pears.
>> I know that bartletts are picked before they are soft,but thought that
>> winter pears were not. these may have been winter nelis, though my
>> childhood memories of winter nelis were of a hard pear. I can't find
>> Kieffer
>> pears listed in any of my references
>> Ellen
>
>
> Kieffer is a big, hard, gristly pear. They are unusually blight
> resistant, and I think they are self-fruiting. And they are very good
> for cooking and canning.
>
> Best regards,
> Bob
>

They are definitely self-pollenating Bob, got a dwarf one in the backyard.

George