It depends on where you live, but if you can track down a Warren Pear at your local farmers market, you're in for a treat. This special pear blends the best traits of a few different varieties into one rather perfect, juicy, flavorful early winter fruit.
Simultaneously sweet and spicy like its cousin the Seckel but larger in size and a bit juicier like the Comice, the Warren Pear is perfect for eating as is, slicing in salads or baking. The Los Angeles Times just wrote a piece on the history of the pear, outlining its slow popularity due to difficulty with pollination and the length of time pear trees take to come into bearing. The Warren pear is complex and doesn't have that grittiness that some pears can have. It feels special, and for that, we found a few of our favorite pear recipes from the archives that we think would be perfect if you come across a bag of Warrens this winter.
A Few of Our Favorite Pear Recipes:
• Mom's Pear Skillet Cake
• Honey and Spice Poached Pears
• Spiced Pear Muffins
• Pear and Blue Cheese Crostata
• Dark Gingerbread Pear Cake
Related: Look! A Vertical Pear Salad
(Image: Flickr member In Praise of Sardines and wally g licensed for use under Creative Commons)
Soda Recipe: Homemade Ginger Ale
Recipe: Spring Fruit and Nut Tabouli
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i tried my first warren at the berkeley farmers' market last week at the frog hollow farms stand. i was instantly sold on the pure, concentrated pear taste and smooth texture and treated myself to two pears (at $3.90 per pound, i couldn't justify getting more) which i slowly savored in tiny bites over the next few days. it's a lot of juicy deliciousness in one little pear!
i was lucky enough to receive a few complimentary warren pears from frog hollow. i mostly enjoyed them as is because they are so sweet and juicy, but also made a savory pear soup w/crispy pancetta and blue cheese that was pretty incredible (great for any extra or past-prime pears too)
YES, these are so good! They are about $2/pear at my farmer's market so they are definitely an occasional treat, but I do really love them! :)
One Thanksgiving someone asked me "why are these pears so good?" I had to tell them they were Warren pears. Get some friends together and go in on a flat of them - it's not quite a bargain, but becomes more reasonable.