Tim, I guess you are talking about a Chinese pear? They are a form of asian pear. Some asian pears have that butterscotch taste and some don't, it depends on the variety. I don't know any of the Chinese types having any butterscotch in their flavor. Two good chinese pears are Tsu Li and Ya Li. Several nurseries sell Chinese pears, I think One Green World and Raintree for example. Plus many other places I can't think of right now.

Scott

Someone asked about these on another forum, and I found an article that David Karp wrote for the New York Times last November. ("From Silk Road to Supermarket, China's Fragrant Pears.")

A NYT subscription is required to read the full text on-line, but here are a few excerpts:

"The botanical identity of fragrant pears has long been unclear, and Chinese trade documents describe them as resembling the European species. In a study published in 2001, however, scientists analyzed the variety's molecular markers and determined that it is a complex hybrid of the two main European and Asian species, along with Pyrus armeniacifolia, a little-known Xianjing species with small fruits and leaves similar to apricot foliage."

Karp seems to like these pears much better than common Chinese pears like "Ya Li" (which he feels is "mediocre" in quality). Describing the flavor of these newly available fruits, he writes: "The flavor is delicate, and different from that of most Asian pears, with a whiff of the "pear ester", ethyl decadienoate, which gives European varieties their characteristic aroma."

So it sounds like this new type of pear is definitely worthwhile, and also rather unlike any of the cultivars currently grown in the U.S. (A "crunchy when ripe" pear with the European pear aroma.)

Unfortunately, I don't think that trees of this variety can currently be purchased in the U.S. (The Karp article does mention that one commercial grower obtained scionwood of this variety from China's Xinjiang Province a few years ago, and that he plans to start propagating more trees ... but I think that he is interesting in propagating trees for his own orchards, not in selling the plants.)

They are in all the Chinese fruit markets here in NYC. Cost is about $1.25 a lb. They are crisp, sweet and juicy, but not much in the way of fragrance. I think Housi is better.
All the boxes are from China, writing is in Chinese and English. The provence they come from is listed, I just cant remember how to spell it. I will plant a few seeds in two weeks. I have some in the crisper for a 3 weeks now. I an hoping 5 weeks is enough stratification.

I've got about 20 seedlings growing and I need to think of where to plant them all. :) How many years would it probably take to bear fruit?

Sounds interesting - I haven't seen these pears here but will look.

Richard, I have a couple dozen apple seedlings that I grafted to a couple trees, so I am growing many varieties in a small space and will also hopefully get fruit a bit sooner. Burbank was well-known for employing this technique. With pears you could use quince as the stock and that would certainly speed up the time to fruit. Asians are also thankfully much faster to fruit than the Europeans. I'm not sure how compatible they are with quince, though.

The children will perhaps be quite different since the pollinator could well be a normal asian pear.

Scott

Hey here is a longer article.. maybe this is what you read Ashok.

Here is a link that might be useful: More on fragrant pears

Scott,

Yes, that's the article. It's quite an interesting read. Karp's pieces are always entertaining and informative.

Scott, the ones I get have green crisp stems, giving the impression they were recently picked. If I did not have lots of space, I would not plant them either. I also want try taking material from a seedling grown one season, and grafting it on a mature tree to see how long it will take to fruit.

TWM, if you go to the blog I linked above you will find that the harvest occurs in September - there are pictures of it. My stems are also green so I can only think that they must stay green for 6 months. I believe that all of these pears are grown in the same part of China.

Scott

The Fragrant pears, as crisp as Asian pears but juicy and sweet like more familiar varieties, originated in far western China in the Xinjiang region. The area accounts for only 3 percent of China��s pear crop, but the Fragrant variety, which its farmers have cultivated for 1,300 years, is esteemed as the country��s finest, and fetches twice the price of other pears there.

I am from China and export fragrant pears and apples. I hope to find importers. My Email and MSN is benvictory@hotmail.com. Mobile number is +86 133 5696 9157.

Wow... This may be the best fruit I have ever tasted! Thin cream colored skin, super crispy and juicy flesh with a little grit and an incredible flavor that reminded me of bubblefum! Followed by a more conventionnal but delicious pear flavor toward the center of the fruit ..I wish I could grow it!

I just ordered "Nurun Burun", it's a very rare pear variety.

Information about this variety is hard to come by, but I will copy and paste what I've managed to find:

"Nurun Burun, whose name, I believe, means graceful smell in Turkish, had the texture of a soft ripe pear but the indescribably fantastic aroma of a fine quince and not a hint of astringency –a once in a lifetime pear"

http://www.cookingissues.com/page/4/

Apparently there is one growing at the Brogdale rare fruit collection in Kent.

It's very hard to find any information about the "Nurun Burun" variety, but apparently the Genetic Resources Institute in Azerbaijan makes reference to a sample collected from Digahoba village in Khachmaz province. There are a lot of orchards in this area.

An old German periodical makes a quick mention to a list of several varieties, including Narun Barun pear, growing in Dagestan and Armenia, and says that said listed varieties are delicious and still unknown in Europe. (Garten-Zeitung, year 1882)

found this entry in The Book of Pears, by Joan Morgan:

“Narum Burum - USSR, Caucasus. Possibly cross between an Asian and Western pear. Shape of Western pear and reminiscent of an Asian pear in taste, with crisp juicy flesh, sweet to very sweet and intense musk flavor; coarse open texture; tough skin. Highly ornamental in blossom, like an Asian pear.

Fruit: size med. (71-88mm high x 56-75mm wide) Shape: mainly conical, Colour: light green becoming bright yellow with extensive diffuse orange-red flush”

They have to take a cutting of the pear first to make a grafting. It will not be ready to ship until Fall, and it will probably be 2 years after that until any fruit is obtained.

Jessica, if you save seeds and grow them out you will have some fruit eventually. I know, I planted seeds of the pears I got above (back in 2007, its an old thread) and I harvested pears off them this year. The taste is similar to the ones I got in the store but they are somewhat more gritty. Or maybe I need to store them longer still.

The fruit resulting from a plant grown from seed often turns out to be not quite as good as the fruit of its parents. It takes a lot of trial and error to breed good new varieties of fruit.

Interesting parker, and Scott, I did save the seeds... :) I put some in the freezer and some in pots. Your trees are outside? You live in a milder zone than I do... my zone is 4b/5a... We'll see..! :)

Fragrant pears are grown in one of the coldest regions of China. They should be very hardy. They probably would be good breeding material for someone wanting to breed hardy pears.

If you grow out several seeds you will probably get a decent one. I started with 10 seedlings but decided to move them and lost all but a few. I have one fruiting and two more that will fruit soon.

Post pictures when you can, Scott :)

The only time I've seen fragrant pears used in a recipe they were not ripe, still hard and grated then mixed in with other liquids and used either as a sauce or as a marinade. They're supposed to add in a fruitiness and richness to the sauce. I've seen them often in the large Asian markets here in Raleigh but I've never tasted one.

I'm having a few from seedling, it's been just over 2 years. Now about over 3 feet tall but so thin like the choptick, I don't know they need cross pollenator? Look like Asian pear tree, seem like have some throne. Anyway hopefully will fruiting in the next few year .

Asian fragrant pears can be very fragrant, more so than European pear varieties, but it's a musky perfume-like fragrance, completely different from the exquisite pear aroma of a European pear like 'Comice'.

Although I have tasted an excellent Asian pear, personally I prefer the aroma and flavor of Comice, although I could understand why some people might like fragrant pears more.

The texture between the two is also different. Though they can both be firm, Asian pears are crisp and watery, whereas Comice has a dense texture. The texture of Asian pears kind of reminds me of eating jicama.

I live in Calgary Alberta, Canada and I sprouted a couple of Fragrant Pear seeds this spring. So winter is coming now and I am wondering what kinds of temperatures these fragrant pear trees can handle?

The should do fine to a least -15 to -20F.

Tony