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In terms of nutritional content, pears are superior to most fruits, including apples. They are eaten in the summer, compotes, juices, jams are prepared for the winter, and dried. Storing pears is no more difficult than storing apples, but for some reason this is rarely done on subsidiary farms, and large farms are rarely associated with planting this crop for the winter.
The reason is not only that only winter varieties that do not have time to reach consumer ripeness in most regions of Russia are suitable for this. There are no problems with this; for storage, fruits are collected at the stage of removable ripeness. The State Register alone lists 35 late-autumn and winter varieties of pears; in fact, there are several times more of them. So there is plenty to choose from.
Features of collecting pears for storage
The main reason why pears are rarely stored for winter at home is that gardeners do not harvest the crop correctly. This is a delicate crop and cannot be treated like apples.
Summer and early autumn varieties are suitable only for processing and fresh consumption; their shelf life is low. Late autumn and winter varieties are stored for storage. They are picked at the stage of removable ripeness, when the seeds are completely painted in a characteristic color, and the growth and accumulation processes enter the final phase. Pears are easily removed from the tree, as a cork layer forms between the stem and the branch.
Fruits of removable ripeness have a fresh taste, a weak aroma, and the flesh is hard. They ripen during storage. This takes 3-4 weeks, and for some varieties – more than a month.
To keep pears well, remove them in dry weather. You need to pick fruits carefully; on farms, most of the crop losses are due to careless handling of the fruits during the picking process. Even skilled workers damage about 15% of pears.
The fruits of late varieties are covered with a natural protective coating - a waxy coating. To avoid damaging it, you need to wear gloves when removing fruit. You cannot pull, twist, or crush the fruit to pick it from the branch - this can damage the stalk or pear, leaving dents on the peel, which will begin to rot during storage.
Preparing pears for storage
You cannot wash pears before storing them - this will destroy the waxy protective layer. Even summer varieties that need to last in the refrigerator for several days are rinsed immediately before use.
If the surface is contaminated, for example, with bird droppings, carefully wipe it off with a soft, dry cloth. The fruit is set aside to be stored separately and eaten first.
Pears with a broken stem, dents or any other damage - mechanical, caused by pests or diseases - will not last long.
If possible, the fruits should be removed from the tree, carefully examined, immediately wrapped in paper and placed in boxes intended for storage. This way the pears will be less injured. Of course, when time is short or the harvest is too large, this is problematic.
In this case, immediately after harvesting, the pears are sorted, putting all damaged fruits aside. Fruits even with a single dent or puncture made by an insect are rejected. They should be stored separately from whole fruits and eaten immediately after consumer ripeness.
How to store pears for the winter
In order for late autumn varieties to last until the New Year without loss, and for winter varieties to be eaten in the spring, you need to not only harvest the crop correctly, but also be able to preserve it. It is much easier to preserve apples - their peel and pulp are not so tender, and many owners manage to ruin the harvest before mid-winter. Pear is a delicate crop; when storing it, you must carefully follow all the rules, avoiding negligence.
How to preserve pears for the winter at home
Before storing, pears need to be cooled, especially if they were picked at high temperatures. If fruits picked at 10-20° C are immediately transferred to storage or placed in the refrigerator, they will become covered with condensation and rot. You need to cool the fruit quickly, since every day of delay reduces the shelf life by more than 10 days.
The fruits are laid out in storage boxes in 1-2 layers and placed in a room where the temperature is approximately 5° C lower than the environment.After 8-10 hours, the container is transferred to a cooler place (difference 5° C). And so on until the temperature of the storage and fruits is equal.
How to store pears in the refrigerator
Early autumn and summer varieties of pears are not stored for a long time. To prolong their shelf life at least a little:
- Whole, blemish-free fruits are placed in plastic bags, tied tightly and kept in the vegetable section of the refrigerator;
- small pears are placed in pre-sterilized and cooled 3-liter glass jars and sealed with a lid.
This way the fruits can be stored for several weeks.
Of course, no one bothers you to keep winter and late autumn varieties of pears in the refrigerator. Those that are in plastic bags are inspected every 2 weeks. But how many pears can be stored in the refrigerator?
How to keep pears fresh for a long time on the balcony
The ideal temperature for storing winter varieties of pears at home is 0-4° C with a humidity of 85-95%, no light. If it is possible to provide such conditions on a loggia or balcony, it is permissible to keep the fruits there.
Wooden or cardboard boxes are used as packaging. To maintain moisture, each pear is wrapped in thin paper or sprinkled with clean shavings. The fruits are placed in boxes in no more than two layers. The tails should point upward or be between the pears of the adjacent row. This arrangement is clearly visible in the photo.
To increase humidity, you can place a bucket of water next to the drawers, and regulate the temperature by opening and closing the window frames and the balcony door. When the temperature drops, the fruit is covered with old blankets.
You can place the pears in large bags made of thick cellophane and seal them tightly. Just before laying the fruits, you need to balance the temperature of the cellophane, the fruit and the storage location. Otherwise, condensation will form in the bag and the pears will quickly spoil.
How to store pears for the winter in the cellar
Pears will last the longest in a cellar or basement. The necessary conditions:
- temperature from 0 to 4° C;
- humidity 85-95%;
- lack of sunlight;
- good ventilation.
About a month before harvest, the storage is prepared. For this:
- the room is washed and cleaned;
- walls and ceilings are whitened with lime with the addition of 1% copper sulfate;
- plug all the cracks and fumigate with sulfur dioxide (30 g of sulfur per 1 cubic meter of storage area);
- After 2-3 days the room is ventilated.
Pears are laid out in cardboard or wooden boxes so that the fruits do not touch each other. If the harvest is large or there is little space, the fruit can be placed in two layers, but at the same time they are interlayered with clean shavings or crumpled paper.
To increase humidity, you can place containers of water in the storage or wrap each fruit in thin paper. Every 2 weeks, the pears are inspected and any signs of any damage have been removed - dark spots, rot, soft areas, changes in skin color that are not typical for the variety.
How to store pears so they ripen
For the fastest ripening, pears are transferred to a room with a temperature of 18 to 20 ° C, washed thoroughly and laid out in one layer so that the fruits do not touch each other and sunlight falls on them. If you place ripe bananas and apples nearby, the process will speed up.
The ripening of pears is facilitated by keeping them at a temperature of 0-3° C for at least one day. The fruits taken from storage had been in suitable conditions for a long time. Cold accelerates the onset of consumer ripeness of freshly picked fruits.
Winter pear varieties that have been in storage for 3-4 weeks ripen in 1-4 days.
Is it possible to store pears and apples together?
The main problem when storing vegetables and fruits together is the release of ethylene, which accelerates their ripening. Ripe fruits emit a lot of gas, greenish ones - little. At a temperature of 0°, ethylene is practically not released.
According to the compatibility scale, pears and apples belong to group 1b and can be stored together at a temperature of 0 to 2 ° C and a humidity of 85-95%. At the same time, there should be no ripe fruits.
Pears should not be stored next to onions, garlic and potatoes due to the odor emitted by the vegetables. Fruits absorb them, lose their own aroma and become tasteless.
Which varieties are suitable for long-term storage?
Late autumn and winter pears are best stored. Unfortunately, this is a heat-loving crop; keeping varieties are most often cultivated in the southern regions. But some late pears are frost-resistant enough to grow in Central Russia and even in the North-West.
Belarusian Late
A pear variety bred by the Belarusian RNPD Unitary Enterprise “Institute of Fruit Growing” in 1969. Included in the State Register in 2002 and recommended for cultivation in the Central and Northwestern regions.
This is a winter pear variety that forms a rounded crown on a medium-sized trunk. Widely pear-shaped fruits weighing up to 120 g each. The main color is yellow-orange, with a diffuse crimson blush.
The white pulp is oily, juicy, sweet and sour, tender. The taste is rated 4.2 points. The average yield is 122 centners per hectare.
Bere Winter Michurina
One of the oldest varieties included in the State Register in 1947. It was created by I.V. Michurin in 1903 by crossing the Ussuri Pear with the Bere Dil variety. Recommended for cultivation in the Lower Volga and Central Black Earth regions.
This is a winter variety for universal use. Forms a medium-sized tree with a spreading sparse crown, average yield and winter hardiness.
The short pear-shaped asymmetrical fruits are small, weighing up to 100 g. The greenish-yellow peel is covered with large dots and small tubercles. Faint blush pink or brick.
The white flesh is dense, rough, medium juiciness, the taste is tart, sour, but pleasant.
Hera
Federal State Budgetary Institution "Federal Scientific Center named after. Michurina" in 2002 submitted an application for the winter pear Gera. In 2009, the variety was accepted by the State Register and recommended for cultivation in the Central Black Earth region.
Forms a medium-sized tree with a sparse narrow pyramidal crown. The one-dimensional, wide pear-shaped fruits are large, regular, weighing up to 175 g. The color of the pears is uniform, green, without blush, with clearly visible gray dots.
The yellow pulp is tender, slightly oily, and contains a lot of juice. The taste is rated 4.5 points, sweet and sour, weak aroma. Productivity – 175.4 c per hectare.
Long-awaited
An application for registration of the variety was submitted to the Ural Federal Research Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1984. It was accepted by the State Register in 1996.This late-autumn variety is recommended for cultivation in the West Siberian region.
Forms a medium-sized tree with a sparse flat-round crown. Pear-shaped, slightly ribbed fruits on a long stalk are small, differ in size, their average weight is 60-70 g. The main color is yellow, the blush is blurry, dark red.
The color of the fine-grained, tender, juicy pulp is creamy. The aroma is weak, the sweet and sour taste is rated 4.5 points. The variety is universally used, has high winter hardiness and resistance to scab.
Yakovlevskaya
In 2002, the variety was accepted by the State Register and recommended for cultivation in the Central Black Earth region. The originator was the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Federal Scientific Center named after. Michurina."
The Yakovlevskaya winter variety forms a medium-sized tree with a broom-like crown of straight red-brown shoots. One-dimensional, elongated pear-shaped fruits of regular shape, weighing about 125 g, green with a burgundy blush and clearly visible gray dots.
The fine-grained pulp is tender and juicy, white in color. Taster rating: 4.5 points. The variety showed a yield of 178 centners per hectare and high resistance to septoria and scab.
Conclusion
You can store pears of late autumn varieties until the New Year, and winter ones - 3-6 months. To ensure that the fruits do not rot and maintain marketable quality, you need to collect them on time, carefully removing them from the tree, and create optimal conditions in the storage.
