Comice pears.
One of the flavors I’ve come to associate with Christmas is the heavenly sweetness of Comice pears. They are in season from August to March in the United States, but I’ve only seen them in the grocery stores in November and December. If you like pears, you will be in for a treat when you try the Comice pear for the first time.
Wikipedia reports that the Comice pear constitutes only one percent of U.S. pear production, so you might have to look in the pear section at your grocery store carefully for the distinctive squat shape of the Comice — its display is not likely to be as large as the other pear varieties. If you can’t find them in stores, just search online — they are available for delivery.
I let my Comice pears ripen in a bowl away from sunshine and check for ripeness by pressing the pear near the stem. If it gives a bit, it’s ripe. You don’t want to use them for cooking because they are so juicy they won’t hold up. The skin of Comice pears is somewhat grainy, so I prefer to peel them before I eat them. They really are the supreme fresh pear.
Pretty interesting! Happy New Year, Cynthia! My best wishes for you, your family and loved ones this 2010!
.-= Dr. sipmac´s last blog ..Woody Allen, you’re finally caught! =-.
Dr. sipmac,
Thank you! I wish you and all my dear gentle readers progress, prosperity, health, success, love and every blessing now and always.
Cynthia
Happy New Year! And I’m submitting a blogging request: an article or articles on selecting and harvesting heirloom tomatoes! My seed catalogs are arriving!
Stinky,
I’m actually working on a book on that subject. What state/growing region do you live in?
Cynthia
Same as you! I’m just across the river in Fairfax County.
Stinky,
My personal favorite heirloom tomato is Brandywine, Sudduth’s strain. It produces well for me and tastes the best. I also love having unusual colors and shapes of tomatoes. So Orange Russian 117 is marbled yellow and red and shaped like a one-pound strawberry. Berkeley Tie-Dye is green and red in a tie-dye pattern and is delicious, as is Black-and-Brown Boar — both are from Bradley Gates. For yellow tomatoes: Aunt Gertie’s Gold, Lillian’s Yellow. For orange tomatoes: Kellogg’s Breakfast, Jumbo Jim Orange. My favorite cherry tomatoes are Wild Cherry, aka Matt’s Wild Cherry, and Galina’s Yellow Cherry.
What varieties do you grow?
Cynthia
I haven’t tried my hand at heirloom tomatoes yet, but I love to eat them and plan to give it a try this coming year. I planted Better Boy hybrids this year, and even though they were hit very early by blight, they still forged ahead and gave us a decent tomato crop. All hail the mighty tomato!
Stinky,
It’s easy to grow tomatoes from seed, although you will need a grow light if you don’t have a window that gets six-to-eight hours of sun, and a warming mat if the room you’re using to sprout the seeds is below 70 degree Fahrenheit. Your last frost date will be around May 15 — the best age for the transplants to be planted is age six-to-eight weeks. Allow a week for germination. Nights are usually chilly for the last couple of weeks in May, so there’s no rush to plant by May 15. Frost-wise, you are better off a day late than a day early.
Let me know how you do.
Cynthia
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