Crop: Sucrée de Montluçon

Decided to pick the remaining Sucree de Montluçon as they were falling quite rapidly. A very heavy crop from less than a metre length of step-over 3.4 kg, 7.5 lbs, as much as some full-sized cordons have produced. 

Although the flavour has been describe as: "fine, melting and juicy, gritty...very juicy and very sweet, winey, tart, flavour with a delicate perfume* " I have never found it this good. The flesh is quite coarse and 'marrowy', slightly gritty with a bland sweet flavour with little acidity. To be fair, the only summers that it has produced fruit have been terrible ones. Best cooked green. Next year I will thin ruthlessly and just keep 6-8 for exhibition, as they do attain a large size, and have nice smooth skins free from any disease or blemishes.

*From Fruitiers.com

Crop: Comice

A decent innings for Comice this year; 5 kgs picked today, plus I missed a couple at the top of the tree and have eaten a couple, so total is probably about 6 kgs, 14 lbs. All good quality, of large-size, with no damage to any of them. So large, they will not fit in the compartments of my storage trays.

All three varieties are single trees, grown as double oblique cordons on QC rootstocks.

Re. storage, I find the fruit boxes from Lidl's excellent. They even have ones with trays specifically for large pears. I've even been known to BUY pears from Lidl's when we have run out, as the imported Abbé Fetel variety they sell out of season is one of the nicest commercial varieties; similar to Concorde, it is far superior to the ancient cold-stored conference or imported green Barletts sold by all the other supermarkets. Abbé Fetel does need quite careful storage otherwise it can 'go over' very quickly; I keep mine in the fridge. 

Crop: Concorde

The yield of Concorde a little dissapointing, as usual. 4.2kg today, probably 5kg (11lbs)  in total including those eaten/damaged. What Conference gives in quantity, Concorde makes up in quality. Probably one of my favourite mid-season ones, I prefer this one to Comice.

Crop: Conference

Decided to pick the remaining mid-season pears today, as the squirrel damage was getting out of hand.

I weighed today's picking of Conference which came to about 10.5 kgs. Including the ones that have been eaten already, or discarded because of damage, the whole crop from this double cordon was about 12 kg in total, about 26 lbs. Far more than we can eat, my husband will have to take some with him on his weekly egg round.