Fragrant (Fantastic) Pears

If you are an Eddy Izzard fan, you will remember in one of his shows he did a bit on pears.  Basically, it was about how one minute the pear is too hard to eat.  You could use it for a hammer.  Turn you back and they are mush.  And tasteless.  Not really any good flavor.  Growing on on basically Bosc-type pears it is a theory I can hold with.  One of my favorite ‘salads’ mom would do would be to take canned pears, lay a couple of halves on a Bibb lettuce leave and put some grated cheddar cheese on it.  That, and making pear honey or pear preserves are about the only way I like pears and they aren’t either hard or mushy.

Last year, Savvy and I were at Grand Asia market in town.  She has a close friend whose grandmother is from Japan and taught Savvy about some Asia foods (particularly candy), and we stop in occasionally.  We found these pears and she wanted ‘fruit’ , so we picked up a couple to try.  Went we got home she sliced it up (braces won’t allow her to bite).  I managed to get 1 small sliver out of the deal.  They were so, so good.  Crispy, without being hard.  And tasty.  Unbelievably yummy.

So yesterday I was out running errands (i.e. paying bills) and stopped by Grand Asia market.  I had dual duty.  First, I wanted to get some salmon.  They have a fish market which is unbelievable to our Western eyes.  Tanks with fish swimming around in it.  They had a bin with live blue shell crabs you could pick out the exact ones you wanted.  When you get your fish, they will put it in a plastic bag and if you need it, they will fix a little bag of ice to go in there to keep it cold until you get home.  How cool is that!  Secondly, and really more importantly, I wanted to check and see if they have Kit Kat bars.  Not the Kit Kats we have here in the States, but rather the flavored Kit Kat bars you can get in Japan.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have them.

But it is “Fragrant Pear” season!

  They wrap each little pear in tissue paper and a protective sleeve.  Just the right size for a snack.  So sweet and crisp, but not hard.  Flavorful.  So Tuesday went I go back to work, on my way home I will have to make a detour by Grand Asia and pick up some more.  Hopefully, the fragrant pear season will last for another month when Savvy comes back so she can have some too.