1kg Organic Pears

Organic pears, grown without synthetic pesticides or chemical fertilisers. Picked when ready, not stored for months before selling.

About the fruit

Pears are one of the fruits most heavily sprayed in conventional farming. Ours come from farms that don't do that. What you get instead is a pear that tastes like a pear — floral, honeyed, slightly grassy near the skin.

They arrive firm. That's on purpose. Pears ripen off the tree, and shops that sell them soft have usually been storing them too long. Leave yours on the counter for 2–5 days depending on how ripe you want them. Press gently at the top near the stem — when it gives slightly, it's ready.

How to use them

• Fresh: with a wedge of hard cheese and a piece of dark rye. Grown-ups only.
• In a lunchbox: whole, unpeeled. The skin is where most of the fibre and flavour sits.
• Poached: halved, cored, simmered in water with a stick of cinnamon and a strip of lemon peel for 15 minutes.
• Roasted: quartered, cored, tossed with olive oil and a pinch of salt. 200°C for 20 minutes. Serve with roast chicken or over yoghurt.

Don't peel unless a recipe insists. The skin has most of the flavour and fibre.

Storage

On the counter until ripe. Once ripe, in the fridge — they'll hold for another 5–7 days. If they're getting too soft to eat fresh, roast or poach them before they turn.