No wonder the Anjou is one of America’s favorite pears. When properly ripened, this chubby fruit is sweet and juicy, with a pleasing, buttery-smooth texture.
In the United States, Anjou (also called d’Anjou) pears are grown commercially in Washington and Oregon, where they are harvested in late summer. Thanks to storage technologies that postpone ripening, the pears are usually available through the following spring at the produce section of your local supermarket.
Long-term storage of this highly perishable fruit typically involves keeping it in sealed storerooms in which the chilled air is low in oxygen. This refrigerated, “controlled atmosphere” environment slows the fruit’s respiration and helps keep some storage-associated diseases at arm’s length.
But the Anjou is not always an easy pear to store. The pears can develop storage-related diseases, or other problems, such as internal or external browning. Or, once taken out of storage, they can sometimes be annoyingly slow to ripen.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Agricultural Research magazine
