Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
ted, the fruits are placed in a cool, dry location to continue ripening, usually
for at least 2 weeks.
Pears
Determining the point at which pears should be harvested, particularly for
commercial harvests, is somewhat more difficult than for apples. As the fruit
ripens, the underlying “ground color” of the skin gradually changes from
green to yellow, the aroma and sugar concentrations increase, and the fruit
softens. Although charts are available to help judge the ground color, this
evaluation remains subjective and is less useful on red varieties. Likewise,
basing harvest maturity on aroma is highly subjective.
Firmness meters described for apples work well for pears. If the fruit will
be stored in refrigerators, the firmness ranges from 11 to 23 pounds, depend-
ing on variety. Harvest Asian pears at about 13 pounds firmness, 'Anjou' at
15 pounds, 'Bosc' at 16 pounds, and 'Bartlett' at 19 to 22 pounds. As with
apples, the firmness of fruit ready for sale will be lower, ranging from 7 to 10
pounds for Asian varieties, to 11 to 13 for 'Bosc', 10 to 14 for 'Anjou', and 15
to 18 pounds for 'Bartlett'.
For other varieties, keep a record of firmness measurements and correlate
them with storage and quality evaluations. You will soon be able to develop
a chart of firmness standards for your varieties and markets.
Firmness readings are sometimes combined with measurements of the
sugar concentrations in the flesh (called total soluble solids or TSS) as meas-
ured with refractometers. Good-quality optical and digital refractometers are
available from orchard supply companies at a relatively low cost.
European Pears
European pears are usually picked before they are fully ripe in order to de-
velop maximum quality and storability. This is particularly true of 'Bartlett'.
'Anjou' and 'Bosc' are allowed to ripen a bit more before harvest but are still
not fully ripe. Pears that are destined for canning are allowed to nearly ripen
on the tree before harvest.
