North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[fluffy bunny <the.fluffy.bunny@juno.com>]

Chris wrote:

If there's anybody out there who feels they have some experience out 
there, I'd be interested in hearing about Asian/Oriental pears they 
would recommend.

My reply:

Hello Chris,

Bear in mind that I am a not a commercial grower, but a home grower, and
most of my information comes from my limited planting, and a small group
of friends who have been kind and shared their experiences with me. 

One thing I noticed(an this is not statistically significant because
there is simply no control over the sample, and the varieties sampled are
not comprehensive)is that Asians represent a slight paradox, at least in
this country.   

That paradox is that Asian pears do not seem particularity cold
hardy(simply not in the same league as Europeans), and yet their flavor
seems greatly improved in the colder areas of the
country...i.e...Macintosh type environment.   Absolutely the best
flavored, best textured Asian pears I have eaten came from zone
4b...which IMHO is really pushing their collective hardiness.

Yali, which is not normally considered cold hardy by most seems to do
well here.  Chojuro, struggles, but is an absolute delight.   When it
survives the "butterscotch" flavor is extremely intense.  As you drift
south, the taste of Chojuro seems to drift.    

For butterscotch flavored Asians I like Chojuro first, Yali second.   For
the almond flavored type I prefer Nitaka(sp ?) over Korean Giant.   

Very truly yours, 
                                                             the fluffy
bunny 


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