Pears: Tops in taste and texture

March 23, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

By Mary-Liz Shaw

McClatchy Newspapers

Curvaceous, sweet, in an array of colors from bright green to tawny red to sunset yellow and with an unusual texture that changes as it ripens, the pear may be one of the most beautiful and satisfying of the season’s fruits.

Pears are versatile, a tasty addition to salads, main dishes or desserts, and they are a good source of vitamin C, providing 10 percent of the daily requirement. They’re also an excellent source of fiber, providing 24 percent of the daily requirement.

Most common varieties of pears originated in Europe, specifically France and Belgium, which is one reason pears are a favorite ingredient in French cuisine. At Pastiche Bistro and Wine Bar, a French-style cafe in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood, chef-owner Michael Engel is definitely a fan, describing the pear’s unique taste and texture as “unctuous” or buttery, setting the pear above its more pedestrian companion winter fruit, the apple.

“Pears have a distinct mouth-feel,” he says. “Apples are kind of boring that way; they always feel the same. A pear will move around in your mouth a little, and you’ll taste different things, just like a good wine.”

So if they’re so great, why aren’t we eating pears all the time?

Self-professed “pear nerd” Cristie Mather, director of communications at Pear Bureau Northwest, the collective of 1,600 growers in Oregon and Washington that produces 84 percent of the nation’s pears, thinks part of the answer is in the fruit’s distinction as a “treat.”

“They’re not seen as an everyday fruit. They’re exalted,” she says. “People think, ‘Oh, that’s for special occasions.’”

STATE OF RIPENESS

A more likely reason is the pear’s state of ripeness when purchased. Pears are picked “green” and must sit out on the counter for a day or two, or longer, to reach peak ripeness. This delayed gratification makes it difficult to plan a meal around pears if the dish depends on the pear being perfectly ripe.

For impatient cooks, however, an advantage of pears is they can be used in certain recipes before they are ripe and still produce fine taste.

Underripe pears can be poached in simple syrup, left plain or flavored with sweet spices, and emerge with their characteristically smooth texture.

Served with a bit of whipped cream, ice cream or caramel sauce, the poached pear is an elegant dessert — and takes less than half an hour. What’s more, poached pears are almost impossible to ruin, given the fruit’s stable culinary properties.

The best way to test for ripeness is to apply gentle pressure to the neck of the pear, Mather says. If it yields, then the pear is ready to eat. Pears ripen from the inside out; waiting until the body of the pear is soft will mean the pear is overripe for eating, but it may still be suitable for some cooking applications.

Mather points out that the pear’s tardiness to ripen is a boon for the purposes of storage and contributes to its relatively long season — from September through February for most varieties and almost year-round in the case of red and green D’Anjou pears.

“Pears are very sensitive to cold,” Mather says. “They only begin to convert their starches to sugar when they reach a specific core temperature [32 degrees]. So if you purchase underripe pears in the grocery store and take them home and put them in the refrigerator, they are not going to ripen.”

On the other hand, once the pears ripen, they can be placed in the fridge to retard the process and extend their shelf life.

Pears take to spices and flavorings well and with a consistency that Engel appreciates in his busy commercial kitchen.

He can always rely on his pear tartes tatin to come out well every time; his apple tartes tatin, on the other hand, can be problematic.

“Apples are tricky. There are so many different kinds of apples, they have different properties ... they’re more inconsistent.”

Engel likes to poach pears in sweet wine such as a Riesling or Cava, which complement the fruit’s rich flavor. The fruit goes particularly well with cardamom, vanilla and star anise.

When contacted for a comment about cooking with pears, Engel offered to create a dessert with pears showcasing the fruit’s blend of sophistication and sweetness.

His Caramel and Poached Pear Semolina Cake, based on a very traditional French dessert described in Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook “Around My French Table” (2010, $40) is “elegant and satisfying.” Engel says. The “addition of poached pears brings out the flavor of the rest of the ingredients in a nice, round manner.”

With a typical annual crop yield of around 17 million 44-pound boxes, which is roughly five times smaller than the annual apple crop, pear choices at the store are usually limited to a few D’Anjou by mid-February, Mather says.

“People tend to eat up all the pears before the season ends,” she says.

But consumers have learned more about the different varieties of pears and they are demanding more choices through the season. Locally, there are still plenty of pears available, in a selection of varieties, including the tiny, sweet Forelles, Comice, which are best eaten fresh, along with versatile red and green D’Anjou pears for cooking.

“I like pears a lot in savory dishes,” Mather says. “I make them into chutneys and add savory spices like cayenne pepper and serve that as a side dish. . . . A simple pear salad is delicious.”

RECIPES

Mike Engel, chef-owner of Pastiche Bistro and Wine Bar in Milwaukee, created this luscious pear cake by adapting a very traditional French dessert reproduced by Dorie Greenspan in her best seller, “Around My French Table” (Houghton Mifflin, 2010, $40).

“What I like about this cake is its texture,” Engel writes. “It’s not too sweet to enjoy with a nice glass of dessert wine (a late-harvest riesling, Muscat de Beaumes de Venise or Tokaji all work well); I think that the addition of poached pears elevates it, makes it just a little more elegant and satisfying, and brings out the flavor of the rest of the ingredients in a nice, round manner.”

Engel notes that although the recipe appears complicated, “it is easy to do, very forgiving, and adaptable to other fruits both fresh and dried.” He adds that the poached pears can be done a day ahead and the moist cake keeps well.