Comments on: Japanese Pears

By: Wilson Cariaga

Wilson Cariaga — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 11:41:04 +0000

yes yes, i want to poach it in red wine then serve it with vanilla ice cream. . . yum yum

By: Marketman

Marketman — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 21:48:13 +0000

Sandra, you are right, the more I think about it, the more these are turning out to be my favorite pear variety… Doddie, noodles with pears…now that is a combination I have never tried. I do like the cold noodles in Japanese restaurants though so I would probably like the Korean version as well. oggi, they even tried to make square watermelons for easier packaging and shipping…yikes! Apicio, you got it, I bought some sugarcane last year (I photographed it and did a post on it) and afterwards tried to eat it like I did when I was a kid…yipes, nearly needed a trip to the dentist! How did we manage to gnaw at that when we were 10? alb, you are right, these pears probably came from China… fried neurons, I like Anjous as well, specially poached and served with raspberry sauce… linda, with bagoong?! Gotta try that one day soon! Ria, did the plastic bags have holes so the fruit could breathe? ktjison, by native did you mean Japan, Korea or China…slurp away!

By: ktjison

ktjison — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 15:57:23 +0000

It was a good thing I got to taste it in its native land. Slurping food there is not considered offensive. Those were probably the juiciest pears I have tried yet. (Gotta try it with bagoong soon!)

By: Ria

Ria — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 10:03:03 +0000

These are beautiful fruits. I visited a Taiwan farming cooperative two years ago, and they had a contract with a Japanese client to grow these. The client sent them the fruit grafts which they grafted onto local pear trees. All the produce are then exported to the client/buyer.

The trees were not too high and you could actually reach out and pick the fruits. Each fruit was encased in clear plastic bags on the tree as they grew and ripened. This is probably why the skins are pristine.

By: linda

linda — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 22:18:50 +0000

In Oz land we call these Nashi pears – lovely to eat with sweet or savoury salads,poached with red wine and spices,or chilled and thinly sliced with cheese in a sandwich.For a Pinoy twist – dip with bagoong.Yum!!

By: fried-neurons

fried-neurons — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 20:31:27 +0000

I like Anjou pears with prosciutto.

By: alb

alb — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 17:40:54 +0000

These are more known now as Asian pears as they’re produced extensively in China, Korea, and Japan. There are a few different cultivars but the taste is all the same-juicy, crisp, and sweet. It’s more like biting into an apple as compared to European pears. Us Asians can really appreciate texture in food that’s why many of us prefer this pear over European varieties.

On the lower prices, I think it’s because China has opened up production and export of these pears that prices have come down.

By: Apicio

Apicio — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 15:27:44 +0000

Keeping down the attendant sloshy noise when eating these pears may detract from the pleasure much like when drawing joy from a baton of sugarcane. Best enjoyed in youth when the senses are sharp and worry about (financially) painful and time-consuming dental work and precarious balance of blood sugar level do not yet loom large in the consciousness.

By: oggi

oggi — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 14:46:06 +0000

MM, the melons you mentioned are the Japanese variety of musk melons. My father-in-law used to receive these as gifts from Japanese clients, they’re usually wrapped in purplish paper and contained in a pretty box, yes the Japanese are obsessed with perfect fruit and equally pefect presentation. When I felt like indulging I bought these from the Japanese department stores (Daimaru or Mitsukoshi) when we were living in HongKong, not for US$100 though, that would be insane, they still are very expensive in Japan. These melons are spectacular, juicy, sweet, indescribable..

By: Doddie from Korea

Doddie from Korea — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 14:14:46 +0000

MM,

The korean pears we have here in Janghowon are as big as the grapefruits that we have in Davao. The pears are covered with a thin brown peel and are unbelievably sweet and juicy. Koreans have incorporated this fruit in some of their noodle dishes that are cold (the broth has ice chips in it. Some of their salads have julienned pears tossed with them (combined with a salty-sauce – the taste is refreshing and suprisingly good).

Each pear here cost about 150 to 250 pesos each.