Hand-Picked: The Story of Pears in the Pacific Northwest

Hand-Picked: The Perfect Pear Growing Environment

Hand-Picked: Grower Communities

Hand-Picked: The Importance of Family

Hand-Picked: Pears are Picked and Packed by Hand

Hand-Picked: Organic Pears

Hand-Picked: Pear Industry Progress

Hand-Picked: The Perfect Pear

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Like the fruit itself and the landscapes on which the trees sit, the people who grow pears come in a wide variety of sorts, from all kinds of backgrounds. Some growers were born to be fourth-generation farmers, while others stumbled into orchard life much later. There are growers for whom the many hats they wear make the job fun, and ones who work hard in the summer to spend those slow winter months with their families. But what all of them share is a passion for growing the best pears possible, whether that’s continuing the tradition of heirloom varieties from a century ago or using the newest technology to prune a pear tree that grows more fruit, more efficiently.

More than 800 growers work the land in Washington and Oregon, producing around 87% of the fresh pears grown in the United States. As they prune, pick, and pack, the pear growers of the Northwest bring their backgrounds in science, teaching, agriculture, and office work to the mission of producing better fruit, each contributing unique attributes and information to the collective goal of producing the world’s best pears.

Meet some of the growers that help make Northwest pears so special!

Nobody knows pears better than our growers! See for yourself:

The post Meet Our Growers appeared first on USA Pears.

While traces of pears have been found in prehistoric areas in Switzerland, the modern(-ish) history of pears begins 7,000 years ago with a Chinese diplomat named Feng Li. After becoming obsessed with pears he devoted his life to cultivating, grafting, and spreading his favorite fruit as far as possible. By the time the Greek poet Homer wrote The Odyssey, he referred to them as a “gift of the gods.” Roman farmers documented their extensive growing and grafting techniques, while also hoping to appeal to the revered goddess of fruit, Pomona. This may explain why pears are part of the pome fruit family!

Much like the same fruit grown today, pears were valued for their versatility and long storage life—as well as for their beauty: paintings of pairs were found in the ruins of Pompeii, sixth-century church mosaics in Jordan, and renaissance paintings like Giovanni Bellini’s “Madonna of the Pear.”

With such a storied past, it’s not surprising that pear clippings were among the possessions colonists brought with them when they settled along America’s East Coast. While the favored fruit thrived in states like New York and Pennsylvania, they were mostly driven out by other crops and land development. Luckily, they survived long enough to be brought along for the cross-country journey west. The same trees that had been cherished, written about, and painted in Europe, eventually found hospitable climate and terrain throughout the Northwest.

How Pears Came to the Northwest

When 19^th century pioneers arrived in the Northwest, they brought everything they treasured with them along the way: their families, their livestock, and yes, even their favorite fruits. But while the early American settlers that arrived in Oregon’s Hood River Valley planted the first roots of a prodigious pear industry, the fruit itself has a storied past.

Today, Washington and Oregon grow 81% of the fresh pears in the country, with over 700 growers. But when Henderson Luelling lugged two boxes of fruit tree sprouts from Iowa to Oregon in 1847, he was simply continuing a long history of cultivating what’s known as European pears.

As part of the Ring of Fire, the Northwest’s Cascade Range of snow-capped peaks volcanoes produce a rich, fertile soil that makes it prime pear country. The principal growing areas in the region are literally in the shadow of these mountains, which can rise over 14,000 feet above sea level. There, the warm days, cool nights, and abundant fresh water gave rise to pear orchards around the region.

The European climate of the Rogue River Valley gave rise to the Comice variety, while the chilly Hood River Valley found economic stability through frost-resistant varieties. Further north, in Washington, the Wenatchee and Yakima Valleys flourished from the first plantings of the same heirloom varieties brought from Europe in the 19^th century. Through the 20^th century, orchards expanded and increased production around the Northwest, as irrigation capabilities advanced and new growing techniques applied. Committed pear growers invested in their land, communities banded together to support each other, and local universities studied the most productive and efficient ways to grow the fruits in the area.

The Northwest has grown to become one of the world’s largest pear growing regions, harvesting around 413,000 tons of fresh pears annually, and making Washington and Oregon the top states in fresh pear production in the US. While Washington often produces a larger volume volume, pears are Oregon’s top fruit tree crop and official state fruit—which makes sense given how well it fits in alongside the region’s culinary style. Versatile, delicate pears weave into the ingredient-focused cooking of the region, bolstering salads dotted with local cheeses and nuts, complementing the pristine seafood, even topping pizza, and as the perfect pair (pun intended) for the region’s acclaimed wines.

Northwest pears have thrived on the tree and on the plate in a big part thanks to the many ways chefs, scientists, growers, and even eaters united to care, sustain, and improve the industry. Today, pear orchards in Oregon and Washington are as specialized as the regions that support them. Organic, conventional, co-op, and multi-generational family orchards work together to continue the tradition of harvesting one of the world’s oldest fruit. They take pride in their role as part of the community preserving the know-how and continuing to look for new ways to improve and expand the production of high-quality fresh pears in the Pacific Northwest.

USA Pear Crop Statistics

• There are currently over 700 pear growers in Washington and Oregon
• Pears are Oregon’s number one tree fruit crop, its #8 agricultural commodity, and Oregon’s Official State Fruit
• Washington’s fresh pear production is the largest in the United States
• Oregon’s total pear production ranks 2nd overall in the United States and 2nd in terms of fresh pear production
• In Washington State, pears are the third most valuable tree fruit crop behind apples and sweet cherries, and the tenth most valuable agricultural commodity overall
• Combined annual fresh pear (not canned) harvest for Washington and Oregon currently averages over 442,000 tons
• Washington and Oregon export about 35% of their fresh pear crop to more than 50 countries around the world.
• About a quarter of the overall pear crop is canned (not represented by USA Pears/Pear Bureau Northwest). Most canning pears are Bartletts, with 63% of this variety being used for canning and processing into juices, etc.

The post The History Behind Northwest Pears appeared first on USA Pears.

Growing

The rich volcanic soils, long, warm days, and cool nights of the Pacific Northwest creates an ideal climate for growing pear trees. But well before the pears are plucked from the trees at the beginning of fall, pear growers have prepped and pruned the trees to help make sure they deliver the perfect pear.

When spring rolls around, the trees come alive again: growers kick off the season by bringing in bees to pollinate the pear blossoms starting to decorate the branches. Later, as the first of the pears begin to grow, the grower will thin the incoming baby fruit to maximize where the tree spends its limited energy and to make sure that each branch has plenty of room to grow into the biggest and best pears possible.

Come summer, the branches get heavy and full, almost cracking under the burgeoning bounty, so the grower props the branches up to safely support them, monitors the orchards for pest control, and begins irrigation so the thirsty trees get plenty of water during the warm summer days. By the time summer ends, farmers are monitoring the weather, bringing in fans to move air around and prevent fungus. The cycle has come back around: it’s time for harvesting.

Harvesting

The perfect pear can be crisp and green, it can be yellow and buttery. But no matter how you prefer your fruit in the end, all pears are picked at the same time: when they’re fully mature but not yet ripe. That’s because unlike cherries and apples, pears do best when they are plucked at the peak of flavor, even though they haven’t yet softened or sweetened. While you may have enjoyed the occasional tree-ripened pear, the best texture – smooth and juicy –comes from letting them ripen after picking.

Starting as early as August, pickers carefully harvest each pear by hand, climbing up special three-legged ladders to reach up into trees and assess the individual fruit for its readiness. Ripe fruit is put into the bags pickers wear, which can weigh forty or more pounds before they get carefully emptied into specialized orchard bins designed to prevent bruising.  The number of people working in the orchard skyrockets as pickers move through the orchards in search of fruit at the proper stage, often helping out their neighbors in addition to their own crop. They begin with the Bartletts, the best-known and most common pears, but as the season moves on, they’ll pick the sweet Anjous, before moving onto late season varieties like the creamy Comice and aromatic Bosc as it turns toward winter.

Packing

The delicate care of the fruit—from the moment its picked until it reaches the person who will eat it—is designed to ensure the best possible quality. As the pickers work their way through the orchards, they gently transfer the picked fruit from picking bags into orchard bins. Because pears, particularly at this stage of the season, have super sensitive skin, there’s no machine that can do this work without bruising the fruit—harming how it looks, but also how it ripens and tastes.

Once the pears reach the proper reduced core temperature, they are transported by water, again to prevent bruising, to be sorted and separated by size and grade before being hand-packed into boxes. Each pear is carefully packed, either onto padded beds in modern boxes or individually wrapped to protect the skin before it goes into the pack cart, ensuring it will have a comfortable, first-class ride to its destination.

Shipping

After the pears are packed snuggly in their boxes, they head to special storage rooms for a little nap. The temperature and atmosphere-controlled environment holds them in this sleep state until the pears are ready to wake up and hop on a truck or train car for the journey all over the U.S., as well as, for about one-third of the crop, a longer journey to another country.

Selling

While most fruit is sold ripe at the store, because of pears’ unique off-tree ripening, you can sometimes purchase your pears before they’re ripe and leave them out to ripen until you’re ready to eat them. Before you buy, you’ll want to know how to tell just how ripe that fruit currently is. For many fruits, you check the ripeness by giving the outside a gentle squeeze, but pears tend to ripen from the inside out, so that won’t help you much. Instead, check the neck—apply gentle pressure around the stem end with your thumb to see how firm it is there. If it yields to pressure, then it’s ripe and ready to eat!

When your pears are ripe, you can refrigerate them right away to make keep them fresh and delicious for a few more days. But if they are not yet ripe, you can confidently buy them to set out at room temperature (around 70°F) until you’re ready to eat them—and a bowl of pears ripening on a table does double duty as still-life decoration.

The post Orchard to Market: The Journey of a Pear appeared first on USA Pears.

The American Northwest is a place where little farms are still carving out space among the snow-capped mountains. Pears have been grown among the rolling orchards and foggy valleys for generations, tended by the same families with the same hard work and commitment to producing the best fresh produce.

Near a little red barn nestled among the 100 acres of fruit trees in Hood River, Oregon, live Jon and Debra Laraway. Jon comes from a pear-growing family, four generations of them. He never wanted to do anything else and Debra was right there with him. “I couldn’t wait to move to Hood River and live on a farm,” says Debra. “I said to Jon, ‘sign me up!’”

Today, Debra works with the pickers, runs supplies and water, and examines fruit quality in the bins. Jon handles bookkeeping and recordkeeping, plus field work,including the occasional late-night runs to turn on the frost fans.

The region’s temperate climate of warm days and cool nights, combined with its rich, volcanic ash soil fed by mountain streams and coastal air, is a perfect recipe for the Bartlett, Green Anjou, Red Anjou and Bosc pears they feel so lucky to grow andshare with you today.

Laraways’ Favorite Snack? Dried pears, of course!

How do the Laraways enjoy their pears? They DEHYDRATE them! Dehydrated fruit is perfect for on-the-go snacking and is super simple to make, too. Click here for the recipe.

See more grower profiles!

The post Grower Profile: Jon and Debra Laraway appeared first on USA Pears.

Pears are one of the world’s oldest cultivated and beloved fruits. In 5,000 B.C., Feng Li, a Chinese diplomat, abandoned his responsibilities when he became consumed by grafting peaches, almonds, persimmons, pears and apples as a commercial venture. In The Odyssey, the Greek poet laureate Homer lauds pears as a “gift of the gods.” Pomona, goddess of fruit, was a cherished member of the Roman Pantheon and Roman farmers documented extensive pear growing and grafting techniques. Thanks to their versatility and long storage life, pears were a valuable and much-desired commodity among the trading routes of the ancient world. Evident in the works of Renaissance Masters, pears have long been an elegant still-life muse for artists. In the 17th century a great flourishing of modern pear variety cultivation began taking place in Europe. And in popular culture, the pear tree was immortalized alongside a partridge in the 18th-century Christmas carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Early colonists brought the first pear trees to America’s eastern settlements where they thrived until crop blights proved too severe to sustain widespread cultivation. Fortunately, the pear trees brought west to Oregon and Washington by pioneers in the 1800’s thrived in the unique agricultural conditions found in the Pacific Northwest. Today’s Northwest pear varieties are the same or similar to those first cultivated in France and Belgium where they were prized for their delicate flavor, buttery texture, and long storage life.

As more sophisticated irrigation and growing techniques developed during the past century, pear orchards flourished dramatically in the Northwest’s river valley regions located in a serpentine sprawl from Northern Central Washington to Central Southern Oregon.

Today, pear orchards in Oregon and Washington are as specialized as the regions that support them. Organic, commercial and multi-generation family orchards all contribute high-quality fruit to the Northwest’s fresh pear industry. Consumer interest and enjoyment of Northwest pears grows each year. Thanks to advancements in Controlled Atmosphere (CA) storage technology, fresh USA Pears are available to consumers nearly year-round.

A Northwest Treasure

The first arrival of pear trees to Oregon and Washington came with the pioneers. These trees found their way to the region by way of the Lewis and Clark Trail.

Pioneers that settled along the Columbia River in Oregon’s Hood River Valley, found ideal growing conditions for their pear trees. Vast orchards grow there today, in the shadow of majestic Mt. Hood. Volcanic soil, abundant water, warm days and cool nights combine to create the perfect conditions for growing the varieties found in Oregon.

The other principal growing area in Oregon is the Rogue River valley, around Medford in the Southeastern part of the state.  Medford, near the end of the Cascade Mountain Range, also enjoys the rich volcanic soil and European-like weather that nurture the world’s most beautiful, sweet, and juicy pears.

The Cascade Range is part of the Ring of Fire, the mountains that ring the Pacific Rim.  Many of the Northwest’s snow-capped peaks are dormant or still active volcanoes.  The principal growing areas in the region are literally in the shadow of these mountains, which can rise over 11,000 feet above sea level.

Settlers in the shadows of Washington’s Cascade Range enjoyed similar success.  With orchards dating back to the 1850’s, the Wenatchee Valley is an abundant producer of all USA Pear varieties.  The rugged north central Washington region is exceptionally proud of its consistency of producing high-quality pears known the world over.

In central Washington’s Yakima Valley, the light, fertile soil of the agricultural-rich region supports thousands of acres of Northwest pear trees. The growing regions in Washington share their volcanic influences from Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens.

With these abundant crops, fresh pears naturally became a major part of Northwest cooking, which takes the finest local ingredients and combines them in delicious complimentary style. The versatile and delicate flavor of pears enhances the area’s bountiful fresh seafood and regional wines. Chefs in the Pacific Northwest and around the world use pears for all parts of the menu, from appetizers to entrees to desserts.

Due to this rich history and its positive impact on the state’s economy, the State of Oregon named the pear Oregon’s Official State Fruit.  In addition, the USDA annually recognizes the pear by declaring the month of December as National Pear Month.  The pear is indeed a Northwest treasure!

USA Pear Crop Statistics

• There are currently nearly 900 pear growers in Washington and Oregon
• Pears are Oregon’s number one tree fruit crop, its #8 agricultural commodity, and Oregon’s Official State Fruit
• Washington’s fresh pear production is the largest in the United States
• Oregon’s total pear production ranks 2nd overall in the United States and 2nd in terms of fresh pear production
• In Washington State, pears are the third most valuable tree fruit crop behind apples and sweet cherries, and the tenth most valuable agricultural commodity overall
• Combined annual fresh pear (not canned) harvest for Washington and Oregon currently averages over 442,000 tons
• Washington and Oregon export about 35% of their fresh pear crop to more than 50 countries around the world.
• About a quarter of the overall pear crop is canned (not represented by USA Pears/Pear Bureau Northwest). Most canning pears are Bartletts, with 63% of this variety being used for canning and processing into juices, etc.

The post History of Pears appeared first on USA Pears.

Organic pears are cultivated in increasing numbers within our growing regions. Organic orchards adhere to specific growing and cultivation requirements, resulting in another fresh USA Pear choice for consumers who desire organic fruit. Organic pears are produced in accordance with strict USDA organic regulations that only allow approved substances for control of pests and to replenish soil nutrients. The Northwest’s fertile ecosystem reduces many difficulties of organic farming, however, production techniques for organic fruit are often more labor-intensive and costly. Still, the Northwest is proud to be one of the world’s largest organic pear producing regions, giving consumers another fresh choice when buying USA Pears.

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Hailed as a “gift of the gods” by the Greek poet Homer in The Odyssey, the venerable pear has graced diverse civilizations for more than 4,000 years. Today, the U.S. is the third largest pear producing country in the world, and the orchards of Oregon and Washington in particular allow this old-world delight to flourish to perfection in their pastoral terrain.

Moisture from meandering rivers and glacial snowmelt feeds the region’s nutrient-rich volcanic soil that creates the ideal environment for pear tree nourishment. With these idyllic growing conditions, it’s no wonder Pacific Northwest pear growers produce over 80 percent of the nation’s fresh pears—and they’re available almost year-round. A rich history and a richer earth make these USA Pears the world’s finest.

There are four principal pear growing regions in Washington and Oregon:

Wenatchee – This region is identified by the city of Wenatchee, located in the North Central Washington growing district. Named for the “Wenatchi,” a Native American tribe from the region, the word is believed to mean “river flowing through canyons,” a fitting description of the turbulent rapids of the Wenatchee River that tumbles through the surrounding canyons.

Yakima – According to Native American tradition, the word Yakima means “Black Bear” and/or “People of the narrow river.” Each year the plentiful water and rich, light, fertile soil of the beautiful Yakima Valley brings thousands of acres of USA Pear trees into bloom.

Mid-Columbia – The Columbia River flows through the Columbia Gorge as it passes through the Mid-Columbia region. This rich growing region stretches from White Salmon, Washington south to Hood River, Oregon. Here, thousands of acres of USA Pears flourish under the protective vigil of the snowcapped peaks of Mt. Adams in Washington, and Mt. Hood in Oregon.

Medford – Southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley is as rich in lush, USA Pear orchards as the surrounding area is rich in history. The area around Medford and the neighboring town of Jacksonville, a designated National Historic Landmark, serves as a time capsule dating from Oregon’s early pioneering days.

Ensuring sustainability for generations to come.

Not all pear orchards are cultivated alike. The traditional method of planting trees in evenly spaced orchard rows is still the most common, but new techniques are employed to enhance acreage production and yields. Among these is a trellis system, where pear trees are trained across a large trellis much like grapes. Another version of this technique is the V-trellis, which allows trees to grow at two diverging angles. The advantages of these new systems are that they increase tree density, while at the same time maximizing light exposure into the tree to help fruit productivity.

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Harvest

Packing – Once filled, the orchard bins are delivered to the packing houses and immediately cooled. This helps pears ripen consistently after consumer purchase. Once the pears reach the proper reduced core temperature, they are transported by water (to prevent bruising) to be sorted and separated by size and grade before being hand-packed.

Shipping – After being packed, USA Pears are stored in special storage rooms until sold. USA Pears are delivered by truck or rail to markets in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. A large percentage of the crop is also shipped overseas, where USA Pears are highly regarded for their superior taste and quality. About 35% of the total USA Pear crop is exported each season.

The post Field to Market appeared first on USA Pears.