Last week’s What Is It Wednesday was exactly what many of you guessed it was. It was sugar pear, also known as a seckel pear.
I was really surprised by how many of you knew exactly what it was. I am going to have to find some more unique items for my family to try, so that my What Is It Wednesdays are more difficult.
I found these sugar pears one day recently when I was shopping at Sam’s Club. I grew up in northwest Oregon, so I have eaten a lot of varieties of pears, but I have never heard of, or eaten, a seckel pear, at least not that I can remember.
When I saw these at Sam’s Club I was intrigued by the size of them. They were so small and cute. I was curious what they would taste like and decided to buy a package to try.
These pears were very sweet, which is why they are known as the sugar pear. The taste and texture of these were just like a regular pear, but a little sweeter. And really they did not seem that much sweeter than many of the pears I grew up eating fresh from the tree.
I guess when I bought them I was expecting something a little different, but no it tasted pretty much like a regular pear.
What I especially liked about these pears though was that they were all good. There was very few bad spots, and no bad pears in the package I bought.
All too often when I buy pears at the store half of them go bad before they are totally ripe, or the pears end up having so many bad spots that they are no good. So, I was very pleased that these pears all tasted good. Now this might just be the package I bought, or the fact that Sam’s Club had a really good batch of them, but I was quite pleased with how they lasted.
We ate these just like the were. I think they make the perfect pear for just eating and snacking on because they are so sweet. They are also the perfect size for a snack for kids.
What are your thoughts on sugar pears?
My daughter moved into her husband’s family homestead with fruit trees in the yard. 100 years ago, when white sugar was still a luxury, sugar pears were probably used in a lot of different ways. I grated one this morning to sweeten my muesli and put the honey back on the shelf. Maybe I’ll can some pear sauce for winter sweetening, as I’ve failed to pick the pears in time to store them fresh.