Popular Winter Varieties Are at Area Stores, Farmers’ Markets : The Bosc, Comice, Anjou, Red Bartlett and Asian versions are available. Prices are expected to remain favorable.

Several winter pear varieties are taking up substantial space in the produce sections of local markets and grocery chain stores across Ventura County.

Although the late summer/early fall season for the common green-skinned Bartlett has concluded, you’ll now find the popular Bosc, Anjou, Comice and Red Bartlett versions.

Thanks to a sizable harvest, consumer prices should remain favorable through the winter season, growers say. Cold storage supplies are expected to last well into December for some of these varieties.

A check around Ventura County markets found the brownish-yellow Bosc pear--popular with cooks because its firm flesh holds shape when cooked--to be selling for about 99 cents a pound.

The large greenish-yellow Comice is also going for about 99 cents a pound, while Red Bartletts are hovering about 89 cents a pound. The large Forelle variety is a bit more pricey at about $1.79 a pound.

The widest selections can be found at grocery chains such as Ralphs, Vons and Hughes, which are carrying four or five varieties, including the crispy Asian pears.

Although thousands of varieties are grown worldwide, most of the pears purchased in the United States are grown in the Pacific Northwest. The eastern side of the Cascade Range in Oregon and Washington is a big harvest area, as are parts of Northern California.

Many of the pears you will purchase through December--including those at area farmers’ markets--have already been harvested and are being held in cold storage. But that doesn’t mean that you will be getting any lesser quality of fruit. In fact, spending at least a few weeks in cold storage is proper pear protocol.

“Pears have to be picked before they ripen,” said grower Lewis Sherrill, who attends the Saturday farmers’ market in Ventura. “They finish the ripening process off the stem and go into cold storage to hold back maturity.”

Pears are unique, Sherrill said, because they ripen from the inside out.

“If left on the tree too long, they break down at the core and become mushy on the inside,” he said. “You can’t expect to eat them like that.”

Growers must test the fruit before harvesting, Sherrill said. A sugar content of about 13% must be achieved before the pears are ready to come off.

Sherrill and his wife, Sara, whose farm is just south of Bakersfield, will continue through Thanksgiving with the D’Anjou variety. This medium-sized fruit, a russeted yellow when ripe, offers a sweet flesh and uniform texture.

“The D’Anjou has a lot smoother texture than the Bartlett, which can be quite grainy,” Sara Sherrill said. “This is an eating pear. The Bartlett would be more of the cooking pear.”

Their D’Anjou, a bit smaller and more squat than a Bartlett, is selling for 50 cents a pound.

Tenerelli Farms, east of Lancaster, is offering a winter Bartlett variety at the Wednesday farmers’ market in Ventura. Although pear harvesting just began recently, John Tenerelli said they will only have supplies for a couple more weeks because they do not put their pears into cold storage.

Tenerelli said his customers often buy the winter Bartletts for jams, cobblers and canning.

While differing in many ways from its domestic cousins, the Asian pear’s popularity is increasing with consumers, said grower Debbie Harvey.

Harvey offers 11 different varieties throughout the late summer and winter months at the Thousand Oaks farmers’ market, which is held Thursdays.

“They look odd--they’re unlike the traditional pear shape,” Harvey said. Asian pears are generally apple-shaped. They are firm to the touch when ripe and feature crisp, juicy flesh. “Don’t be confused with the firmness,” Harvey said. “They are to be eaten firm.”

These types must be tree-ripened, Harvey said, as the sugar content will not rise once the fruit has been removed from the tree.

Harvey Farms, in Delano, is offering three winter varieties--the brownish Korean Shanko , the yellowish Japanese Shinseiki and the huge, odd-looking Chinese Tsuli .

Although similar in color and shape to a green Bartlett, the Goliath-sized Tsuli attracts a lot of attention from passersby and customers, Harvey said. “You might see these in an Oriental market,” but otherwise the Tsuli is an uncommon variety, she said. “It has a tender flesh with a pear-pineapple flavor and is very fragrant.”

Harvey Farms’ pears sell in the neighborhood of $1 per pound. These are fresh eating pears and not recommended for cooking, Harvey said.

Details

* Numerous varieties of winter pears are available at grocery markets and chain stores across the county. You’ll also find a few varieties at the following farmers’ markets:

Ventura:

Wednesdays, 10 a.m to 1 p.m., Montgomery Ward parking lot at Main Street and Mills Road.

Saturdays, 8:30 a.m. to noon, Santa Clara and California streets, Ventura.

Thousand Oaks:

Thursdays, 4 to 8 p.m., Janss Mall at Hillcrest Drive and Moorpark Road.

Oxnard:

Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., 7th and B streets.

Camarillo:

Saturdays, 8 a.m. to noon, parking lot at the Senior Nutrition Center, 2220 Ventura Blvd.