Besides Julian’s Apples, There Are the Pears

With autumn officially ushered in this week, Julian has come alive with the flavors of fall. Fruit lovers can sink their teeth into not only the crisp, locally grown apples, but pears as well.

While Apple Days festivities, held each weekend in October, highlight the apple harvest, farmers also sell other seasonal fruits and their byproducts, such as pears and pear butter.

Bartlett pears, also known as “summer pears,” are the most popular and should be available through November. Bartlett pears originated in England in the 18th Century. They were first planted in Massachusetts and eventually were brought West by the Forty-Niners during the Gold Rush. Today, California Bartletts account for two-thirds of the nation’s crop. Local production of Bartletts and other varieties centers mainly around Julian and Ramona.

Jan and Lewis LaDou of Julian Jams grow the apples and pears which go in their gourmet jams and apple butters. The La Dou’s large green barn overlooks several acres of trees nestled at the foot of Volcan Mountain Preserve, San Diego County’s newest park.

“We have a bumper crop this year,” said Jan LaDou, overlooking the fruit-laden trees, many of them planted more than 75 years ago. Red Delicious apples make up the main crop, but the LaDous also grow Bartlett pears.

“The Yellow Bartlett doesn’t stand up as well as the Red to being stored,” she said. This explains why most of the LaDous’ pear crop will be turned into pear butter.

At the back of the green barn, a gleaming kitchen serves as the production area for the LaDous’ homemade Julian Jams. Large, stainless steel kettles hold up to 800 pounds of fruit at a time.

“Our apple butter takes 16 hours to cook,” Jan LaDou said. “When the fruit is ripe, we cook around the clock.”

Boxes of fresh fruit, ready to be processed, are stacked in the refrigerated storage area. “The public wants “Hollywood” fruit, LaDou said. “They won’t buy a fruit that has any natural blemish even though they taste delicious.”

The less-than-perfect pears are just what LaDou needs for making her natural, honey-sweetened, fruit butters. “We do everything by hand,” she said. “It’s really done the old-fashioned way.”

In season, a variety of orchard-related activities take place at the LaDous’ Apple Mountain Orchard, from the popular Rent-A-Tree program, where families get a chance to pick the fruit off their “own” rented tree, to guided nature hikes, and making fresh apple cider with an old-fashioned, hand-cranked cider press. The LaDou orchard is now open to the public daily except Mondays for U-Pick and for guided tours of the Julian Jams kitchen.

Fruit grower and packer Ray Meyer operates the popular Meyer Orchards fruit stand on California 78 in Santa Ysabel.

Inside the stand, Helen, Ray’s wife, keeps replenishing the shelves with bags of freshly picked pears and apples. Wooden bins overflow with seven varieties of locally grown pears, from the popular Bartlett and the aptly named starkrimson, to the sweet Lincoln pears. This is also the place to buy freshly picked Asian pears.

“At one time, most of the fruit was shipped out,” Meyer said. “But now, most of it is sold locally. We have to sell as much as possible right now.”

Meyer manages several orchards in the area. “Pears are on their way out around here,” he said. “They’re too touchy. They have to be picked within a two-week period, and then refrigerated.”

Although picking season takes place at the beginning of August, pear sales are at their peak in October and November. “The Bosc pears you see in the store now were probably picked last season,” Meyer said.

Pears like the D’Anjou, a late winter pear that comes off the tree in mid-September, will keep for months in cold storage. A short distance up the road from their stand, the Meyers help operate the Calico Ranch, an orchard of pears and apples, which welcomes U-Pick customers. Sacks and boxes are provided on site. The orchard produces pears and apples, and will remain open until the end of apple season in late November. “We stay open if people keep coming,” Meyer said.

Antique varieties of European apples and pears, among other fruit, are the specialty of Pearson-Hooper Farms outside Julian.

Joanne Pearson, a confirmed Francophil, has been farming for more than two decades. A refreshing mountain breeze rustles the limbs of the tall pines towering over the picturesque orchard. The meadow below is dotted with pear trees bearing fruit with romantic-sounding names like fondant d’automne, a small, russet-colored pear, the bright green Duchesse d’Angouleme, and the crunchy Passe-Crassane. Nearby, the limbs of a skinny red Bartlett bends under the load of dozens of ripe fruit. Pearson has spent years selecting the pears best suited to Julian’s cool climate.

She recalls how she first tasted a conference pear, an unusual green, tubular-looking fruit. “It was at the market in Tours (France),” she said. “It looked terrible, but when I bit into it, it was like liquid gold.”

That pear inspired Pearson to specialize in European fruit. “Did you know that the Calville Blanc d’Hiver has more vitamin C than an orange?” she said.

The Pearsons overcame a host of natural obstacles in the course of establishing their orchard. “When we planted our first trees, we dug every hole by hand,” she said. “We even had to bring in our own water until our well was dug.” The first year, deer ate all of the fruit grower’s freshly pruned trees. Now she encircles every tree with thin nylon netting.

Last year, Pearson lost most of the crop to an August hailstorm. This season, however, she expects to make up for the loss with a bumper crop.

Most of their fruit is bound for gourmet markets and upscale restaurants in San Diego.

Julian Apple Mountain Orchards, 1125 Farmer Road, Julian, CA. 92036. 765-1906. Call for information on scheduled activities for September and October, and for Rent-A-Tree information for next year. Julian Jams are available by mail order.

Meyer Orchards, 3962 Highway 78, Santa Ysabel, CA 92070. 765-0233. Open daily 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. White Bartlett pears range from 40 to 60 cents a pound to $12 a bushel. Fresh cider: $2.50 a half gallon. Wholesale and retail.

Calico Ranch, 1/4-mile up from Meyer stand. Pears or apples: $3 for a 10-pound bag and $6 for 20 to 25-pound boxes. Open daily from 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. beginning next week. Check times by calling Meyer Fruit Stand at 765-0233.

Pearson-Hooper Farms, Julian, CA. 92036. Wholesale only.