North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[rmelrose@danvilleVT.net]

It is tree-ordering time (for me) and this year my mind has turned to perry
pears -- or you may want to call them something else. There are not many
cultivars for sale in the US (or Canada I belive) and not much information
about them. Would people with experience like to pass it on? I assume
others would be interested. Particularly, where, what, how well they
do (say in comparison to other pears), hardiness (especially) when they
ripen, and any information about final product. If there is nothing to say
and they are just like other pears, I would like to know that that as well.

Whilst we are very much on the cold end of pear growing here (NE Kingdom of
Vermont, zone 4a probably) many do quite well -- I have over 20 varieties
at the moment and have done a little juicing (from Golden Spice). These
make a nice flavored spirit (vodka based so far). My trees are now
producing more than I can easily use as fruit and with luck it will
continue so.

I am interested to hear experiences from pretty much anywhere! Perry
production from regular pears would also be interesting to hear about. I'm
assuming that would be very lightly flavored.

Richard