Does anyone know of a pear that causes severe and instantaneous dry mouth?
The skin from pears tends to be papery and dry. The fruit itself is pretty juicy in my experience, other than the so-called ‘Asian pears’, which have more of a crisp apple consistency.
I think the dry mouth is caused by tannins in the pear skin; the same effect as with crabapples and some types of grape. Acording to this site, red pears are particulary high in tannins.
Are you sure you aren’t thinking of an unripe persimmon?
I thank you for the tip on tannins. It really made sense.