All guides
How to pick pears
4 min read
The one fruit here you should pick before it is ripe, because a pear ripened on the tree is gritty at the core.
45
farms
15
regions
August to November
picked
When you can pick pears
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Across every region on Pickeria. Darker months are peak somewhere; your own region is narrower, and the table below gives it.
What to look for
- 1
Pick when full size and still firm. Tree-ripened pears go mealy from the inside out, which you cannot see until you cut one
- 2
Tilt to horizontal. A pear ready to pick separates from the spur at that angle and no other
- 3
Watch for the skin turning from grass green toward a lighter green or yellow. That is your cue, not softness
- 4
They bruise through the skin without marking, so lower them into the container rather than dropping them
- 5
European pears need a week or two of cold before they will ripen properly, so plan on the fridge before the fruit bowl
What people get wrong
Every one of these is common enough to be worth naming.
- Waiting for softness on the tree, which produces a pear that is gritty and brown at the core before the outside gives
- Testing ripeness by pressing the belly, which bruises it. The neck is the only place worth pressing
- Skipping the cold period. European pears need a week or two of refrigeration before they will ripen properly
- Treating an Asian pear like a European one and leaving it to soften, when it is ready hard
Varieties worth knowing
Farms post the variety at the gate. This is what the names mean.
Bartlett
The August pear, and the one that actually changes colour from green to yellow as it ripens, which no other common pear does.
Bosc
Russeted brown, dense, and the best pear for poaching and baking because it holds its shape.
Anjou
Stays green even when ripe, so the neck test is the only test. Keeps for months in the cold.
Asian pears
Round, crisp and eaten hard like an apple. The one pear you do pick ripe, and increasingly common on American farms.
Once you are home
Most people pick more than they planned to.
- Refrigerate for at least a week before you try to ripen them, and longer for Anjou and Comice
- Bring out a few at a time. Ripe when the neck yields to gentle pressure
- Poach the ones that ripen faster than you can eat them, in wine or syrup, and they keep another week
- Pear and ginger is the pairing worth knowing, in jam, in a crumble or in a chutney
Where you can pick pears
45 farms across 15 regions, earliest season first. Every date came from the farm's own words.
Portland, OR7 farms
Kiyokawa Family Orchards, Pearl's Place Fruit, Pear Bloom Farm and 4 more
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August to October
Philadelphia, PA6 farms
Weaver's Orchard, Kauffman Orchards, Tabora Farm and Orchard and 3 more
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August to September
Chicago, IL4 farms
Prairie Sky Orchard, R&M Orchards, Apple Holler and 1 more
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August to October
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August to October
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August to September
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August to October
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August to November
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August to October
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August to September
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August to October
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August to September
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August to October
Hartford, CT6 farms
Lyman Orchards, Bishop's Orchards Farm Market & Winery, Scott's Orchard & Nursery and 3 more
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September to October
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September to October
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September to October
The one farm that publishes a price
Taken from the farm's own website, never from a directory. Most publish nothing at all, so these are worth knowing.
