One way to check would be to compare with those at the store.

I have two old pear trees that I believe are Anjou. The taste is great - IF you pick them before they ripen on the tree. Anjous will go brown and mushy in the center if left on the tree to ripen. If you gently twist the fruit and it comes off, it's ready. Pick them the second they start to go from green to yellow and allow to ripen in the house - but not in fridge. Eat when still very firm.

I've had LOTS of pears dropping off the tree for at least two weeks now. Maybe the hot summer has helped them ripen early this year.

From the shape in the picture, it might be a Comice rather than a D'Anjou. Either way, the harvest time is similar, and they should be picked green as daphnexduck says. Enjoy!

Yes we do have an anjou pear tree and the pears do look like the one in the picture. There are a lot of them in the Fruit Belt of British Columbia and most say when they start to fall off the tree test them by picking a pear and twisting slightly, if it comes off easily, they are ready. They are a much later pear than the Bartlett and in my opinion, much nicer tasting. Now I have to find out what to do with the 2 boxes we got from our tree October 9, 2006.

Looks like it could be an anjou. They are big, fat things. Very late down here. I had to get a new tree, so it is young and has not produced anything yet. Think I harvested mine in November. My first tree was wildly productive. One tree and we gave away a lot of pears. Maybe it was just an extraordinarily productive tree.

If you pick them just a litle firmer than normal, they make a wonderful pear pie. Google and I'm sure you'll find some recipes.