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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Kieffer history

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  • From: "Kieran &/or Donna" <holycow@frontiernet.net>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Kieffer history
  • Date: Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:25:43 -0500


From the slowfoodsusa.org site. I guess I should quit sneering at Kieffers.
It's not that I hate them, but that there are almost no other varieties to be found here. The trees are healthy and productive to a fault, can't complain there. And they are very productive. But there ARE other kinds of pears! Donna

Kieffer, Roxborough, Pennsylvania 1863
The seed parent of Kieffer was the Sand pear of China. Peter Kieffer, a well-known nurseryman from his state, lived in Roxborough, near Philadelphia, grew and sold Sand pear trees for ornamental purposes. In his garden there were also Bartlett trees. Among chance seedlings, Mr. Kieffer observed one of peculiar growth, which he saved. This tree bore fruit in 1863. The fruit matures in late October and November; medium to large in size; thick skin, tough, smooth; color yellow, blushed with dull red on the exposed cheek; dots numerous, small russet, conspicuous; flesh yellowish-white, very granular and coarse, crisp, juicy, not sweet, often astringent. Excellent for canning and baking.

Mr. Kennedy comments, "In the USA, the true pears (Pyrus communis) can be grown will only on the Pacific Coast. Anywhere else, pear culture is a struggle. In colonial times, exotic diseases such as fire blight had not been introduced, and others such as scab were not universally present in all parts of the Atlantic seaboard. It was much easier then to grow pears. By mid-19th century these and other disorders had become cosmopolitan and in the humid climates east of the Rockies, were devastating to pears. For most of the USA, the only variety that could be grown where these diseases prevailed, was the 'Kieffer,' which obtained a certain resistance (though not immunity) from its Asian nashi parent. However, even in Southern states the Kieffer did not attain a melting flesh of dessert quality equal to the best true pears; in the rest of the US Kieffer blooms too early and flowers are usually killed by frost. 'Kieffer', however, does have significance for extrinsic qualities: it gave rise to an Asian pear culture peculiar to the South, and supported (off and on, and very locally) for a century and a half - still going on, in various places - an industry of canning and preserving. The 'Kieffer' is a valid cultivar for this purpose and while not the same product as the ubiquitous canned 'Barletts' of California origin, has its own unique flavor and texture that is one of the few most characteristic features of Southern fruit culture."





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