North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[<dwoodard@becon.org>]

I think from the descriptions that several cooking pears turn red when 
cooked.

I have never seen a cooking pear in a recent U.S. nursery catalogue, 
except for Belle Angevine (supposed to be adequate though not best 
quality) from Southmeadow Fruit Gardens.

A couple of the best cooking pears by repute are Bellissime d'Hiver and 
Catillac. both are evidently held by members of the Home Orchard society 
and possibly scionwood might be obtained. The first is held by the 
Corvallis station. They might be willing to supply a propagator.

See
http://www.ars-grin.gov/cor/catalogs/pyrcult.html

An annual scion exchange in Eugene, Oregon had Bellissime d'Hiver and 
Catillac wood available in 2010 but not in 2013. Perhaps special 
arrangements could be made if there was a known demand.

See
http://springpropagationfair.com

There is a link to the descriptions in Hedrick's "Pears of New York" at

http://seedambassadors.org/avalon/pearvarieties2010.htm

Cooking pears would likely be of interest mainly to those concerned 
with self-sufficiency/homesteading, with a certain amount of land. For 
such people their reputed easy and long keeping (said to be till May for 
Bellisime d'Hiver, March or April for Catillac) might make them very 
useful.

Given that self-sufficiency may become of more general interest in a 
resource-short future it's a pity that cooking pears are hardly 
available from nurseries in North America.

Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada


On Wed, 5 Jun 2013 17:07:33 -0600, "Naomi Counides" <naomi@oznayim.us> 
wrote:
> I have a friend looking for a cooking pear.  She is Dutch.  She said 
> the one
> she knows has red flesh, or maybe it turns red when cooked.  Any 
> suggestions
> of what would be available in the US?
>
> Naomi