? Red Bartlett Pears. I bought some little red pears yesterday at the farmers market...

B

barbara-in-va

Well-known member
they were labelled as a red bartlett. They are as hard as a rock and the young lady selling them knew nothing about them (it was raining and few of the regular vendors were in attendance). Do I let them ripen to a softer stage or are they ready now? I want to make the spinach and pear salad that was recently posted!

I googled and found that in a regular bartlett it turns from green to yellow and then should be sweet and juicy but did not see ripening info for the red ones.

Thank you in advance!

 
Let them ripen

Pears are picked before they are ripe, while they are still hard as little boulders but heavy-ish. If they ripen on the tree (if they don't fall off first) they get grainy.

So, your pears are nice and fresh but not ready yet. I really like red bartletts, they have a little deeper flavour.

 
Yes. Pears are different from other fruits. As Sky says, they do not ripen properly on the tree.

They will ripen on their own though and go all too quickly even sitting on the counter. No bag necessary. My problem each year as I try to keep them from Sept through Dec in the deep, dark frig drawer, is that if I picked them too late, they ripen almost instantly. If I get them early enough I can have a dozen or so each week, direct from the frig drawer, until end of January.

 
Watch them real well. Pears ripen from the inside out so being hard on the outside

is not a good indication of what is happening. Leave them out on the counter--or in a bag as someone said (a banana will speed it up). I go by how they smell. When you can barely smell "pear" they are ready. They may be vERY slightly yielding to pressure.

 
I like mine more ripe than that

I like them when they perfume the whole kitchen and are pretty well yielding. Almost like a peach or a mango. But I also like my bananas completely yellow, evenly freckled with brown, and NO GREEN, not even a tinge.

 
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