Pears

[shazzabell]

I bought some pears almost two weeks ago, thing is, they are still hard! How long should it take before they're edible?

[nickmo]

Imported stuff thats picked unripe and will never become a really nice fruit. Overseas produce is picked for toughness not flavour. Ripeness comes from the sugar developing in the fruit. Once off the tree, it stops developing anyway. (pears do actually get harvested unripe, but the tree test for a 'softness' determines when they get picked) If the pear has been chilled (which is likely for an import 6 months out of season in the UK) it will never truly ripen,.

If you keep the pears at room temp, and place in a paper bag this can sometimes bring on a softness, but pears are quite picky about ripening, and they tend to be good for literally one day then turn too soft.

Bit of reading and tips here: http://www.saturdaymarket.com/goff.htm

Pears give off ethylene gas when ripening, (commercial packers invest hugely in machines to ripen hard fuir using this gas) so never put apples and pears together ina bowl as the gas mucks up the apple flesh....

[nickmo]

Should have said - perhaps use them for poaching - use a red wine, sugar, lemon peel, cinnamon stick and a little vanilla for the liquor and gently poach until soft. Serve with a mascarpone cream and the cooking liquor cooled, strained and reduced.

[shazzabell]

Gosh, thanks for that nickmo! Not much hope then. I'll give the paper bag a go anyway. Thanks for your time and effort!

[ABName]

Some pears are meant to be crispy, even when ripe, never soft...

[Artemis]

If they are Conference, the harder they are the better I like them

[ermintrude35]

..place them in a paper bag with a ripeish banana, should do the trick...

[loubie]

The trick is to use a brown paper bag.

[mycatis]

I bought pears from Asda a while ago and they stayed hard for nearly three weeks, then seemed to go soft instantly, had to eat them all in one night lol