North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Peter Chrisbacher <pxbacher@gmail.com>]

Hello All -

Last weekend I stumbled across what appears to me to be a very large old
wild pear tree here in Wilmington DE. The tree still has lots of pears
hanging on its branches, as well as loads of fruit still in good shape (and
rock hard) on the ground around it.

Assuming this is actually a "wild" tree, these pears are quite large - the
one I'm looking at now is just slightly smaller than a bartlett. Nearby the
tree is an overgrown apple tree that appears quite a bit younger than the
pear tree.

I am quite sure I can collect at least two and probably more 5-gallon pails
of fruit from around this tree.  This being the case, I have a few
questions for the group:

1) Any thoughts on whether this is a seedling pear or may actually be a
cultivar?  I see no indication of grafting on the tree.
2) If possibly not a seedling, how might I go about typing it?
3) These pears are rock hard, despite storing 5 in a paper bag at room temp
for the past week. They're juicy enough, but are tart and mildly tannic.
 Do I have any hope of ripening them, or would I be better off processing
them in some way?
4) What might be the best way(s) to try ripening and/or processing some of
these?  I'm willing to experiment by trying different things this year
thinking ahead to next year's harvest

Here's a pic of one of the pears:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/SrbRngldHoADQFNNTHTVrtMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink

Thanks!

Pete Chrisbacher
Zone 6b/7a Southeast PA