Pears Galore

Date: 07/23/2017

organic Pears

The pear – the super fruit! Have an organic pear and be calm and healthy 🙂

The pear was called a gift of the gods by Homer, and was considered a luxury food in the court of King Louis the 14th.

The pear is recognized now as anti-allergenic, and full of vitamins, minerals and fiber. The pear is a suitable food for humans from infancy to old age. It is delicious and full of health benefits.

Please welcome the pear among our organic fruits this season. It is precisely suitable for what we wish to promote!!

The pear tree is a small beautiful deciduous tree of the rose family. It originated in Persia.

In Israel there is one native species – the Syrian pear. It is so beautiful in bloom!! It hides among the other trees and stands out only in March and April when it is completely covered with a spectacular white bloom. The fruits are small, up to 4 cm when ripe, and when they are yellow or brown in color they are tasty and good to eat. This fruit has been eaten here for a very long time.

The cultured pears that we know were developed about 3,000 years ago by the Greeks. Homer called the pear a gift of the gods and the Romans spread it throughout the Mediterranean basin. In the early centuries in Europe the pear was considered a noble and luxury food.

Lucky for us, the pear is now available to everyone.

Pears have a variety of health benefits:

I must start with the texture, which is suitable for babies and adults, along with its inviting sweet taste. Pears regulate bowel movements and are considered anti-allergenic.

In folk medicine the pear is used to treat allergies and skin problems, to clean and cool the lungs, and to relieve coughing and remove phlegm. Accordingly, it is very suitable for the common cough this season. (Coughing is the body's way to remove toxins, debris and bacteria from the nasal and esophageal passages). According to Chinese medicine the pear has properties of cooling and stimulating the lungs, so that the area is kept moist and germ-free.

Pears also contain Vitamin A, vitamin C, folic acid, antioxidants, B group vitamins and much fiber. They also have a large amount of potassium, which is essential for maintaining normal blood pressure, nervous system function and muscle tone. Phosphorus, calcium and Magnesium are also present. And a Low amount of sodium helps to balance body fluids.

The peel contains most of this wealth of nutrients, so eat it!

The many different cultured species of pears differ from each other in size, color, shape, and amount of sugar.

In Israel we grow one main species, called sapadona. This species was imported to Israel from Italy in the 1930’s by a couple from Ein Harod. This species was better acculturated because it is less sensitive to the lack frost in the winter. The pear tree is sensitive to heat and direct sunlight and needs the winter cold. The pear flowers require fertilization from a different tree in order to produce fruit.

Despite all of these great benefits, somehow the pear is still in the shadow of the apple 🙁 (which we also love fresh and in season) and I guess it's because it is easier to sell apples, which have a long shelf life and are available throughout the year and at any place. Apples survive after undergoing all kinds of processes of preservation (God forbid…) and long journeys (also God forbid)… Both are members of the rose family and are called pseudo-fruit, because the part we eat is not the mature ovary (the part with the seeds), but the area around it.

So take advantage of the organic pear season :). How wonderful that it arrives just in time!

Kitchen tips:

Remember, in order to enjoy the nutritional richness of the pear, you must eat it with the peel.

To prevent darkening of the pear after you cut it- drip some lemon juice (Or lime, which is available now :)).

Some tasty tips: Pears go really well in a vegetable salad! They are great with cheese! You can replace apples with pears in recipes for a delicious and unexpected treat.

Here is to your health!

Maggie and the garden team (:

We expect in our organic vegetable baskets (draft only) :

Tomatoes

Cucumbers

lettuce

Thai spinach

Leeks

Onions

Eggplants

Corn

Butter nut squash