Red Pears aren't supposed to taste--they're supposed to be cute! I've tried three different varieties of Red Pears (and Yellow Pears too!) and they are by no means a delicious tomato. Although watery and bitter isn't exactly normal either--usually they are moist to dry-ish, and without much flavor. Sometimes they are acidic--is that what you mean by bitter? If it's truly nasty-bitter, that to me sounds like a disease. In any event, if you are looking for yummy flavor, then Yes! Yank them out and plant something else, they aren't ever going to go there!

Carla in Sac

A bitter taste just doesn't compute unless something is very wrong like contaminated soil, spray chemicals on the fruit,
or some weird desease. Maybe you are picking them too far before ripeness.

I've grown both red and yellow pear over a number of years, they were highly prized for salads at restaurants because of appearance value, but they surely are not the best tasters in the garden. On the other hand if you will pick them when they are nearly full ripe they just aren't that bad and are surely recognizable as fresh garden tomatoes.

YES, When you said restaurant tomatoes, that struck a chord! Dull boring and if not bitter, then certainly just acidic but without any balance to it. I've taken very good care of these tomatoes, compost, organic fish fertilizer, mulch, etc. so I don't think it's anything I've done wrong. All my other toms are great. I won't be growing these again.

I too have been growing Red and Yellow Pears for many years and also selling them to chefs.

They like them b'c they are so cute as garnishes for salads.

But what you describe as the taste is nothing that I ever experienced with them. They're mild tasting. No bitterness, no watery fruits, just the opposite, and I think the Red Pear has a better taste than the Yellow and the Red is much less susceptible to Early Blight ( A. solani) and I detect no strong taste at all, which is what I think you meant by acid. There's very little difference in internal acidity amongst all the many varieties that have been tested, so there are really no high or low acid tomatoes with very few exceptions..

I know you said you did everything right but what you can't control is the weather which can make a significant impact on taste.

Carolyn

Are these the first fruits of the plant? I've noticed with some varieties the first fruits are spit-worthy, and then it seems either the plant figures out what it's doing and the flavor improves or the climate does. I'm experimenting with drying my "blah" flavored ones to see if that concentrates the flavors at all.