We took a look at our pear trees, and they are loaded with small pears. We'd like to ripen them on the trees, but the deer will get to them before we do. Can anyone tell me at what stage to pick, and how to ripen pears in the house. This is about two pecks of pears, and we'd love to have them to eat, not to feed deer!
Well Jane, I cannot tell you when pears are ripe (other than a change in skin colour), but what I do know is that ripe and over ripe fruit give off ethylene gas ( C2H4 ). A simple example of using this gas to help ripen your fruit goes like this. Remove 3-5 pears, place them in a paper bag with an over-ripe banana or apple, close the bag securely and leave a few days. To understand what “few” means here you need to begin checking the pears after three days. You keep checking until you are satisfied that the pears have ripened to your satisfaction. If it takes too long and the over ripe banana begins to give the impression that it is ready to become rotten, remove it and replace it with a second over-ripe banana to finish off the process. obviously if your pear numbers are many, you just upscale number of over-ripe bananas/apples. small scale, I have done this with toms and apples in the fruit bowl…also with green store-bought bananas. I simply add one over-ripe fruit to the bowl and cover the whole thing with a dish towel or something similar…just something that is large enough to completely bowl, fruit and all. A final possibility is to set a bowl of high-percent alcohol in the bottom of a milk pail, create a wire basket that can be arranged to hang from the pail’s rim. Place the pears in the basket and cover the pail with newspaper or a towel. I hope this helps. These suggestions I have used myself and I know that they work. Good luck !
MG - I always have to buy green pears from the fruit vendor ( not sprayed like the grocery pears) and ripen them indoors. Pear are funny in that they ripen from the inside out. The outside can be firm, but the inside can be over ripe, brown and gritty. I lay my pears out on cardboard, not touching each other, and cover with newspaper to keep the gasses in. It's always worked well for me. Of course I treat them with kid gloves - they bruise so easily. I check them every couple of days when they are green, then every day when they begin to show signs of ripening. If the room is too cool this can take a long time. If it is too warm, they ripen very fast. If it is three bears just right temp ( room temp) they can be predicted much easier. When it comes to choosing the right time to use ( for me it is eating, and canning) I tend to go by smell . And then a wee sample of one to test it's ripeness. ( a must) They can be firm and still sweet. Sometimes waiting for soft means an over ripe centre. Hope that helps
Sjoerd and Melody great techniques to ripen fruit. I love baked pears hot from the oven or microwave with vanilla icecream. Or just plain baked pears. If they aren’t fully ripe baking them doesn’t seem to make a bit of difference.
Excellent post by Mel. Excellent. There are some more details to help, like the comment about room temp. Smart cookie, that Mel.
Between Sojerd and Melody, I just may have some ripe pears to eat this year! Thank you both for the much-needed advice. Pac, I mentioned baked pears to my husband and he just stopped himself from drooling!
