# Are pears like spinach (gritty teeth)?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pears-like-spinach-gritty-teeth/556474>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 8, 2010, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pears-like-spinach-gritty-teeth/556474 "2010-10-08T12:27:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pears-like-spinach-gritty-teeth/556474/1 "2010-10-08T12:27:39Z")

</div>

Somewhere on the SDMB I remember someone explaining why it is that when eating spinach, particularly raw spinach, your teeth get that strange gritty feeling almost as if you’re eating chalk dust with your leafy greens. For spinach, the answer is that the oxalic acid in the spinach reacts with calcium, leaving calcium oxalate crystals behind.

I have a similar issue with pears. I like pears, but I often have to give up on eating them because pear flesh against my teeth feels terrible. Not quite the spinach-mouth grit feeling, but something similar. Apples don’t present this unpleasant feeling, just pears. Does anyone know why pears would feel this way? Are they also high in oxalic acid or something similar?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pears-like-spinach-gritty-teeth/556474/2 "2010-10-08T13:02:02Z")

</div>

[Sclerenchyma](http://www.bio.txstate.edu/~dlemke/botany/1410lab/lab_exercises/lab3/tissues/sclerenchyma.html)

> [@](#):
>
> The gritty texture of pears is caused by groups of sclereids (often called “stone cells”) that are embedded in the parenchyma tissue of the fruit’s flesh. The appearance of typical stone cells from a pear is illustrated below: [pic]

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pears-like-spinach-gritty-teeth/556474/3 "2010-10-08T15:08:12Z")

</div>

Well that explains why I hate raw spinach so much! I’ve never noticed that with pears, though.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pears-like-spinach-gritty-teeth/556474/4 "2010-10-08T23:50:42Z")

</div>

> [@Squink](#):
>
> [Sclerenchyma](http://www.bio.txstate.edu/~dlemke/botany/1410lab/lab_exercises/lab3/tissues/sclerenchyma.html)
> 
> > [@](#):
> >
> > The gritty texture of pears is caused by groups of sclereids (often called “stone cells”) that are embedded in the parenchyma tissue of the fruit’s flesh. The appearance of typical stone cells from a pear is illustrated below: [pic]

Wow, perfect answer in one! Thanks, so much! My Google-fu had failed me. I think I was looking up variations of “pears gritty teeth”.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bewildebeest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bewildebeest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bewildebeest)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pears-like-spinach-gritty-teeth/556474/5 "2010-10-08T23:59:55Z")

</div>

There are a couple of pear varieties that don’t have stone cells in them. Magness and Comice, called butter pears have smooth flesh with no grit.