Crop: Sucrée de Montluçon

I deliberately restricted the crop of Sucree de Montluçon to 7 fruit, as I wanted some decent-sized ones to enter in the culinary pear category at the local show, though in the end I did not bother. The theory worked, and I had nice, large even crop, which started dropping this week. The small crop weighed in at a respectable 2.1 kg (nearly 4.5 lbs).

Sucrée is an odd pear, and I can't say I'd agree with other descriptions of its qualities. The texture is very coarse (see photo) and slightly gritty, but very juicy like slightly chewy melon. The flavour is sweet with a slight aromatic quality reminiscent of guava or star-fruit, though overall a bit thin. I usually cook them while still hard. I expected the very hard, green ones I prepared today to be under-ripe, but one just starting to yellow was just right for eating raw.

Beurré Gris d'Hiver Nouveau

Only one of these, but a large pear similar in size and shape to Comice. I wasn't able to eat any, but my husbands verdict was sweet, very juicy with a buttery quality, but also slightly coarse and gritty, especially near the core.

Flavour: Coe's Golden Drop

The reputation for being the best of plums is well-deserved. Like an apricot dipped in honey; rich, juicy, sweet. Small crop but then my other plums produce similarly small crops in this soil. Evenly ripened this time (sometimes a single patch can remain hard and unripe).

Evaluation: Gorham

Another first crop and another pleasant surprise. Gorham has some rather disparaging descriptions in catalogues, but I found it a good quality pear with a nice flavour. Very sweet, very juicy when fully ripe, slightly granular flesh with a trace of buttery quality. Skin quite thin, with no trace of bitterness.

Slightly more acid than some, it poached very nicely, with a distinct 'tinned pears' flavour, but with much better desert qualities than a Bartlett type.  I'm glad, as the crop is about 2.5 kgs. Follows on nicely from Fondante d'Automne, of which only the last few are left. Seems to keep quite well, unlike some early pears which ripen and go over very quickly. Excellent, duel-purpose, heavy-croping pear with good, compact growth habit and no disease problems.

So far, not a day without fresh pears since the Morettini crop started to ripen in early August.

Flavour: Devoe

Tried some of the later-ripening Devoes, and found they had ripened much more nicely than the earlier ones, left too long on the tree. These had a good flavour, crisp and very sweet. Skin was a little tough and papery, but with no trace of bitterness. On balance, very much like Conference but with a potential for greater sweetness if sufficiently ripened, but less 'richness'. Like other calebasse pears, needs to be picked under-ripe rather than left on the tree.

Flavour: Bishop's Thumb

I picked my first crop of these yesterday, and the result's are a little surprising. This pear has quite a distinct apple flavour. Sweet, juicy and a little granular, with the sort of 'pear drops' flavour usually described in apples, but rarely found in actual pears. Skin quite thin, a little tough, though with no bitterness. Flesh coarse, granular without being gritty. A pleasant surprise. Fruit ripened to yellow with an attractive red flush. Husband has peeled some of them without asking, so not as many to photograph.

Reinette Rouge Etoilée

The Reinette Rouge is finally 'étoilée' - the little russet stars have eventually developed, and the colour has turned a lovely raspberry red. I hope the flavour is equally raspberry like. This half-standard has been very slow to set fruit, having been planted about ten years ago.

The dark patches would appear to be scab infections, as some have now developed characteristic cracks.

Ended up eating this one slightly earlier than planned, thanks to a squirrel knocking it off and gouging lots of holes (Sept 10). Crisp texture, nice fruity flavour with plenty of acidity and sweetness to balance. Slightly fragrance and only a hint of raspberry, but not bad considering it was less ripe than I would have liked. No trace of bitterness under the skin. Definitely one of the nicest red varieties. Bunyard doesn't appear to be quite so keen.

REINETTE ROUGE ETOILEE. Fl. and Pom., 1884, 169. F., Reinette Rouge Etoilee ; G., Roter Stern Reinette. [Cal ville Rouge Pre*coce (error), Early Red Calville, Reinette Etoile'e.] Dessert, October to December, small, 2j by 2, flattened round, regular. Colour, rich yellow, almost covered with carmine red with broad broken stripes. Flesh, firm, juicy, pale yellow with suffused red below skin, sub-acid, of slight strawberry flavour. Eye, open, in a very even, regular basin. Stem, very short, in a narrow russet cavity. Growth, compact ; fertile. Leaf, rather dark, long oval, held flat, tip down curved, very finely curved serrate. Origin, it has been grown in Eastern Belgium for some 100 years or more. It was introduced to England probably about 1830. It is the Early Red Calville of Hogg. Of fair quality and most attractive in appearance.

Crop: Fondante d'Automne

I decided to pick the remaining crop of Fondante d'Automne today as half the crop had previously fallen in the wind. Usable crop weighed in at 2.5 kgs. The windfalls had actually ripened more nicely than the ones I picked, despite being dark green. I think I left the others too long, as the ones that had yellowed slightly on the tree were brown at the core, and slightly floury.

The pear lives up to it's name - very soft sweet flesh with moderate skin, little acidity or tannins. Quite rich, but not really 'buttery'. Normally I like my pears slightly under-ripe and firm, but this is one variety that is worth letting soften a little, as the sugar levels increase quite substantially.

This variety has a shape described as a 'bergamot' pear. I hadn't really stopped to think about the reasoning behind this until today, but I guess it might be because it has the nearly-round shape of the bergamot orange (sometimes described as being 'pear-like'. 

Asian Pear: Shinsui

I decided to cut off the bent branch before it broke with the weight of fruit, though I'd rather have left it in place.

I've come to the conclusion that this variety is best eaten straight from the tree, as it needs as much sun ripening as possible. It can be disappointingly insipid, like those asian pears available in the shops.

I tried one today that dropped off as i was picking it, and it had the distinct flavour of slightly-fermented pineapple that this variety has at it's best. 

Evaluation: Beth

Returned from my father's funeral in Wales to find nearly half of the remaining Beth crop had fallen, though many were still edible after the wasp-nibbled bits had been removed. Including the fallen ones, the remaining crop weighed 4 kilos (8 lbs), giving a total crop of  7 kg (15 lbs) for what is a single cordon (the other limb is given over to Goreham).

8 foot oblique cordon, on Quince C planted 1998.

7 kg (15 lbs) ripening over 2-3 weeks

Growth habit very compact and free-spurring.

Disease free with good autumn foliage colour (yellow).

Flavour and texture are good; thin-skinned, juicy, sweet and slightly buttery. Acid levels are low, helping the sweetness, though probably making it slightly less flavoursome as an early culinary pear. Keeping qualities are average for an early variety, that is you have a couple of days of grace once they have turned yellow.

Evaluation: Dr Jules Guyot

The sole-surviving fruit of Dr Jules - those that were left by the squirrels were hollowed out by wasps, just leaving one. 

Sweet, quite dry, slightly floury and not terribly juicy (though this might because the sole fruit was picked too late). Skin fine, no trace of grit or bitterness. Slight taste of pear drops (described as 'slightly musky' elsewhere). Nothing particularly special, but very pleasant. 

Needs to be picked early (at the point where it parts from the spur) and eaten while still quite firm, just as the green starts to yellow, which will be within a few days of picking giving a limited period of storage/use.

Cordon planted 12 years ago, very healthy with no predisposition to scab,  but only two crops set in that time. Only one or two fruits ever survive on each spur, which also limits the size of the potential crop. The main problem with Dr Jules is it's reluctance to crop regularly, which has been the case in both my own orchard, and the one in my parents' garden in South Wales. Curiously, the fruit in Wales was a couple of weeks behind mine in readyness.

Evaluation: Morettini

A couple of fruit picked straight from the tree. Much riper than the first picking. The redder one was quite sweet and slightly buttery; the other a bit thinner and more astringent (by which I mean has more tannins). The fruit are an attractive shape and colour, very regular in shape and have very few blemishes to the skin of any kind. 

Flavour

Melting, sweet juicy, fine-texured with a thin skin and no trace of grit. More acidity than some, very evident if compared with Beth. Best eaten while slightly hard, with still traces of green still evident, as flavour falls off fairly quickly at full ripeness. One of the best varieties I grow for cooking (light poaching) probably because of the mild acidity; similar in cooked flavour/texture to Williams/Bartlett. 

8 foot tall half standard tree, grafted 2001 - 2:

7.5 kg picked

2 kg approx lost to wasps.

Total 10 kg approx, 21 lbs

Tree qualities - fairly vigourous, compact grow, resistant to scab and heavy cropping. However, flowering can be confused, with buds sometimes opening as early as December if the weather is too mild.

Crop: Irish Peach

Lost most of the small crop to wasps. I picked one in the last week in July, and it ripened within a few days. This variety has a very small window of use, but is very early, just about ready in July.  Acid-sweet, very appley, slightly floury texture but not unpleasantly so at peak of ripeness. Skin on one a little tough, but not inedibly so. Fruit size a little small, but the tree is still little more than a maiden.