Pears That Blush

Henry Ford is famous for his edict that the Model T would come in whatever color the consumer wanted--as long as it was black. That’s the way pears have always been, though farmers are working madly to overcome this.

Pears used to come in shades of green, varying in the amount of yellow and the degree of russetting (the brown, netlike surface you find on Boscs). Though some pears showed a blush of red, there were no all-red pear varieties.

But nature can always be improved upon. And in the never-ending quest for “eye-appeal,” red is a consistent winner. Today you can find red Bartlett, red Anjou and even red Comice pears.

They are still a distinct minority. For example, roughly 6,000 pounds of red Anjous will be harvested this year, as opposed to 430 million pounds of regular.

Anjous are the leading pear variety, followed by Bartletts, at roughly 118 million pounds. Boscs account for 103 million pounds; then the fall-off is quite dramatic. The next most popular pear is the Comice, with 202,000 pounds.

Most pears come from an area that extends up the eastern side of the Cascade Range in Oregon and Washington, including the Columbia River Gorge on the Oregon-Washington border, and Yakima and Wenatchee in Washington. There are also a lot of pears in Medford, east of Oregon’s Coastal Range, and in California’s Gold Country around Placerville, Yuba City and Marysville.

* They’re tough to find, but if you have a good local fish dealer, now’s the time to look for California spiny lobsters. Harvested from Santa Barbara on south, these are clawless but have lots of sweet tail meat.

IN GROWERS MARKETS

At growers markets, you can buy things you won’t find anyplace else. And in Santa Monica on Wednesday mornings, you can buy things you won’t find at any other growers market. For example, Circle C Ranch in Lake Hughes has Concord grapes. Fairview Gardens in Goleta has Rosa Bianca eggplant. Nazaria Tolentino, who lives on Centinela in Santa Monica, has fresh guavas. Gourmet Veggies from Oceano has zucchini flowers--both male and female. See Canyon Apples from San Luis Obispo has Pearmain and Scarlet Licorice apples. David Mountain from Santa Barbara has shiitake and chanterelle mushrooms. Sea Breeze Farms from Del Mar has Chioggia beets. Seaside Banana Gardens from Carpinteria has Enano Gigante, Oringco Cardaba, Manzano, Hawaiian Apple, Blue Java and Ladyfinger Mysore bananas (available also are tours and gift packages, call (805) 643-4061). Fisherman’s Catch has ling cod from the North Channel Islands. Jones Farms in Visalia has fresh jujubes. Flying Disc Ranch near Thermal has Barhi, Kadrawi, gold Havari and unripe Barhi dates.