Hi. In my opinion Kiefer is an under rated pear, usually dismissed as an inferior pear by people who think it is supposed to be a dessert pear instead of a great cooking pear. They make excellent canned pears, sauce, and pies. Pick the fruit when the skin background is yellow.

thank you so much. I've been having the hardest time finding any information on them. I picked a few the other day and put them in the fridge. Should I leave them in the fridge a bit and then let them ripen on the counter, or are they good to cook with straight from the tree?

If you want, you can store them in the fridge just like European pears, and ripen and soften them before using. It's easier to make sauce when they're soft. However, if you plan on canning pear halves or making a pie, in my opinion, they should still be somewhat hard so that they will keep their shape and not turn into mush.

Good luck.