I just ate a big fat pear that was at the perfect moment of ripeness – sweet and juicy, the perfect balance between soft lusciousnes and a hint of texture …
I am in heaven.
That’s the one complaint I have about pears…they peak for just about an hour, and then they’re too soft. But if you get one at its peak, it’s wonderful.
I had an identical moment with a pear this morning. I wonder if they’ll still be as good tomorrow.
I was just pondering on the same notion. I had some pears my MIL gave us from a farmer’s market last Sunday. All this week they were too hard, then Thursday, I had one that was just awesome, then Friday, I noted the rest were getting soft spots, so I had another and fed a couple to the kids, then this morning, the couple we had left had frickin fuzzy mold on them…sheesh!
This was actually the third day in a row I had a perfect pear – a personal best, I think. Because you’re right, the window of perfection slams shut pretty damn quickly.
Oh I’d best look for good pears at the groc, then. Usually they are rock-hard and seem to skip tenderness to dive headlong into mealy and gross.
I had a “damn that was good” moment this morning. Crisp, sunny, gusty October day in New England, smells like dead leaves and a tinge of neighbor’s woodsmoke. Just a couple miles down the road from me is an orchard. At this orchard, on autumn weekends, you can buy a bag of hot, freshly made, cider donuts. Today we got a sack of them, cinnamon sugar covered. They were so fresh and hot that they seemed creamy and soft when you bit into them, though around the hole in the center had the tiniest crunch of the fried dough.
They close for the season next weekend. Good thing, huh?
Farmer’s markets seem to be the best place for pears. I can’t count how many times I bought perfect looking and good smelling pears at the supermarket, only to discover that they were balls of wet sawdust.
For the past three weeks, I’ve been buying a variety called “Warren” pears at the local farmer’s market, and every single one has been one of those heavenly pear experiences you’re describing. They’re a greeny-gold conical pear which seems to hold at the ripe stage for several days, which surprised me.
Yeah, ain’t a good pear just about as good as fruit gets?
I’d include perfect peaches as well. I’ve resigned myself to only getting sweet, fragrant peaches at farmer’s markets in the summer. Whenever I buy peaches at the supermarket, they’re still hard. Okay, I buy a few and take them home to ripen on the counter. Usually what happens is that one side gets mushy and the other side is still hard as a brick. I guess it’s true that most fruit species are grown for their shipping qualities, not their taste.
God. And here I am sitting, thinking that it’s been too long since I had my mouth on a nice, juicy . . . peach. 