Farm pear harvest plentiful in 2018 for ‘butter fruit’
Chef McGrady’s Royal Pear and Walnut Salad with Parmesan Balsamic Dressing
From the Farm
Pears have always been among the orchard fruit trees at our family farm.
In Europe, pears are known as “the butter fruit” because of the smooth, soft and “creamy texture” of the flesh when ripe. Today, in the U.S. “butter fruit” is more commonly a reference to avocados because of the same qualities.
Some of our farm pear trees are very old, including one tree that was “grafted” with an existing apple tree more than 70 years ago by my Grandpa Potempa after the original fruit-bearing tree was damaged by a storm.
The pear variety we grow is a traditional oval yellow pear called Anjou, which is considered a winter pear. My dad’s older sister, my Aunt Wanda, 93, who lives in Chicago, still loves the pears grown at our farm. Her husband, my Uncle Bob, who died in 2016 at age 93, was especially fond of these pears when fresh-picked, and would load up the fall harvest to transport to the city when they visited during my youth.
The pear harvest this year at the farm is especially bountiful, which reminded me of the health benefits of fresh pears as praised by Uncle Bob. Even though Grandma Potempa always canned pears to store in the fruit cellar to enjoy throughout winter, Uncle Bob realized the reason fresh pears are prized is because of their skin, which unfortunately is peeled away for canning.
According to U.S.A. Pear Bureau, a medium size pear, weighing in at around 6 ounces, has fewer than 100 calories and 7 3 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 4 3 1 milligrams of vitamin C, which provides more than 10 percent of the adult Recommended Dietary Allowance.
However, as Uncle Bob would remind, all of the concentration of the vitamin C is found in the skin of the pear, which is why they should be eaten unpeeled. According to the U.S.A. Pear Bureau, pears also contain potassium, iron and pectin, the latter being the soluble fiber proven to help control blood pressure.
Unfortunately, 50 percent of today’s harvested pear crop is for the canned pear industry. Before commercial canning, pears are peeled and heated for processing then usually packed in a sweetened liquid, all of which negates the fruit’s nutritional properties.
Pears are also especially unique because of the “gritty” component in the texture of the soft flesh. Sometimes referred to as “pear stone cells,” the tiny, hard “grit” in the flesh is technically called “sclereid cells,” miniscule, but still the same component found in peach pits and the shells of nuts.
Pears rank with apples as one of the world’s oldest cultivated fruits. Early American colonists brought the first pears (cultivated in France and Belgium) to the new world. By way of the famed Lewis and Clark Trail, pears found their way to Washington and Oregon where the growing conditions are most ideal.
According to the U.S.A. Pear Bureau, today there are nearly 900 pear growers in Washington and Oregon, with the average combined pear harvest for both states tipping the scales at 442,000 tons and 35 percent of crops exported to more than 50 countries around the world. Of all of the varieties grown, Bartlett pears are most often used for commercial canning and processing for juices.
While haute cuisine restaurants like to serve pears poached or sauteed as a dessert highlight, they are far better when used fresh in salads.
I interviewed Chef Darren McGrady more than a decade ago when he was promoting his 2007 book “Eating Royally: Recipes and Remembrances from a Palace Kitchen.” He told me pears were a favorite of the palates of Buckingham Palace, where he served as chef for 11 years until 1993 when he moved to Kensington Palace as Princess Diana’s private chef until her death in 1997.
McGrady said Queen Elizabeth loves to eat her pears “boiled” and served much like a soft-cooked egg in its shell, so she can remove the top and scoop out the soft flesh. When I told him about our pear trees and black walnut trees at our farm, he suggested I try his simple pear and walnut salad, for which he provided the recipe. Though the Royal Family prefers all pears peeled, I keep the skins intact on the pear slices to preserve the most nutrients.
Philip Potempa has published three cookbooks and is the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. Mail questions to From the Farm, P.O. Box 68, San Pierre, IN 46374.