Honey, you’ve got a really nice pear!

"There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Pears are among the oldest of cultivated fruits – in 5000 B.C., Feng Li abandoned his diplomatic career to devote himself to cultivating pears, peaches, persimmons, apples and almonds as his road to fame and riches. Homer lauded them as a gift of the gods; their versatility and long storage life helped Odysseus survive his Odyssey. Painters have appreciated their rainbow of hues in their pallets and used their artistry to bring water to our palates throughout the ages. Likewise the wood is magnificent in art and music: during the Spring and Autumn period of the Zhou dynasty, Lu Ban of the 5th Century B.C. was crafting fine furniture, and Baroque musicians knew the virtue of pear for their reeds and early keyboard instruments. They are also quite nutritious as excellent sources of vitamin C for tissue health, potassium for heart health and blood pressure regulation, and fiber for other healthy regulation – apples ain’t the only fruits that keep the doctor away. Speaking of apples, some scholars also purport that the pears may have actually been the apples of Eden, since many early languages evolved that the favorite fruit was translated as “apple” for many cultures. You’ll always be the pear of my eye!

"I could peel you like a pear and god himself would see the justice in it."
Katherine Hepburn (Eleanor of Aquitaine) to Peter O’Toole (Henry II) in “Lion in Winter”