pear dilemma

[BUFFS]

i have had two pear trees now for 10-12yrs, £3 each from aldi if i remember right, now overflowing with ripening fruit, great, but how are they stored/frozen?, i have never got any fruit from these trees before so i am in the dark how and when to do what, all suggestions welcome..

[Jungle Jane]

Some can go in the fridge to stop ripening for week or two,otherwise thats a lot of pears to eat at once,when wanted take them out for a day or two to ripen in the bowl,I’ve never frozen pear,I’ve never had that many would they need a bit of ripening indoors before freezing or they’ll be hard when they come out the freezer.

[nickdub]

Cooking and preserving them in jars in syrup would be another option - a bit like posh tinned fruit.

[greenishfing]

I have made pear chutney in the past which was nice. I just grabbed a recipe from google.

[ameno]

If they are a later variety like Conference then they can be picked hard and stored somewhere cool, to be brought out a few at a time to ripen at room temperature for a few days. In theory, they should last until at least Christmas. Early varieties, much like early apples, do not keep.

If you want to just cook them at some point (I feel like pear crumble would be nice, although I've never made it myself), then you could just wait for them to ripen then cut them up and freeze the pieces, then just use them direct from frozen as and when you want them.

[Nicos]

I’ve frozen pears!

I lightly poached them in orange juice to help prevent them going brown and just stuck them in freezer bags in 500g batches.

They do need defrosting quickly then baked or eaten to keep their colour.

[ameno]

I’ve frozen pears!

I lightly poached them in orange juice to help prevent them going brown and just stuck them in freezer bags in 500g batches.

They do need defrosting quickly then baked or eaten to keep their colour.

As with all fruit which discolour (or collapse) when frozen then defrosted, you are best to cook them straight from frozen.

[Mr Bones]

Sliced and dehydrated they're gorgeous. Despite a high moisture content pears dehydrate really well.

[BUFFS]

thanks to all of you, that does give me options, much appreciated, i picked 10 today and will be waiting now for them to ripen in the kitchen. the trees branches look like horseshoes with the weight of the fruit pulling them down, waited over a decade for this.

[Dave8abond]

Another vote for dehydrating them from me. They're delicious and last for ages.

[Nicos]

What a fantastic excuse to buy a dehydrator!!!!
I think I have a dehydrator envy still….

[Nicos]

Buffs- you know you can festoon them into that shape?..It would make picking easier in the future

[BUFFS]

the OH has made over 20 jars of pear and ginger jam, frozen about 6k of them and left a big tub by the gate for anyone to help themselves, but we still have a bucketful and the out of reach ones are still on the two trees, about another 10k I think, i wonder if we will get this amount each year? i hope not or i will be living on jam sandwiches for life....the branches from 10ft up have been touching the ground as the pears have been big, a neighbour asked what was wrong with my trees and laughed when i showed him they were just full of fruit, on ground that i was told would never be good for growing as it was a small carpark for the village hospital (our house) in the 30sto the 50s..

[peanut]

I also have an Aldi Pear tree bought about 15yrs ago. This year it was covered with big beautiful pears. I picked one and planned to go back and enjoy the rest.
The other day a squirrel was sat just outside my living room window and I watched it run down the garden. I followed but couldn't see it causing any bother, I was mainly concerned about my sweetcorn, but it was fine.
A couple of days later I remembered my pears and excitedly went down to pick some.
They had all gone.
Not a single one left.
None on the floor.
I hate squirrels

[BUFFS]

peanut, next year , if you get fruit you can paint the most accessible pear/pears, the first ones that the squirrel will go for in a mx of olive oil and paprika and he will start to think they all taste bad and leave them alone, i have done this with other fruit and it works..