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Pears nutrition facts

Mildly sweet with rich flavor pears offer crunchiness of apples yet juicy as peach and nectarine. This simple fruit is widely popular, especially in the northern hemisphere for its unique nutrient qualities.

Botanically it is a pome fruit produced by the tree belonging to the family of Rosaceae; genus Pyrus, which also includes apple, loquat, medlar...etc and known scientifically as Pyrus communis.

Asian Pears- nashi (Photo courtesy: Sandy Austin)

Pears are broadly classified based upon their origin as Asian pears and European pears. Asian varieties known for their crispy texture and firm consistency that do not change after harvesting or storage, makes them ready-to-eat. Whereas, European types generally becomes soft and juicy when allowed to ripen.

In structure, pear fruit has bell or “pyriform” shape; around 5-6 inches long and weigh about 200 gm. Fresh fruit is firm in consistency with mild ‘apple’ flavor.  Externally, it has very thin skin; depending upon the cultivar, pear may have green, red-orange or yellow-orange colors.  Internally, the off white color pulp is crunchy and juicy, however in fully matured ones, the pulp turns to grainy texture with gritty sensation while cutting with knife. Center of the fruit is more or less similar to apple with centrally located tiny inedible seeds.

1. Some of the popular Asian varieties are Ichiban Nashi, Shinsui, Shinsieki and Nijisseki.
2. Popular European types are Bartlett and Comice.

Health benefits of pears

• Pear fruit is packed with health benefiting nutrients such as dietary fiber, anti-oxidants, minerals and vitamins which are necessary for optimum health.

• Pears provide about 3.1 g of dietary fiber per 100g. Regular eating of pears may offer protection against colon cancer.  Most of the fiber is non soluble polysaccharide (NSP), making them a good bulk laxative. Also, the gritty fiber content binds to cancer causing toxins and chemicals in the colon, protecting its mucous membrane from contact with these compounds. 

• In addition, pear fruit is one of the very low calorie fruits, just provides 58 cal per 100g. Just a few sections a day in the diet can bring significant reduction in weight and blood LDL cholesterol levels.

• It contains good quantities of vitamin C. Fresh fruits provide about 7% of RDA per 100 g. 

• They are rich in antioxidant flavonoids phyto-nutrients such as beta carotene, lutein and zea-xanthins. These compounds along with vitamin C and A help body protect from harmful free radicals.

• The fruit is a good source of minerals such as copper, iron, potassium, manganese and magnesium as well as B-complex vitamins such as folates, riboflavin and pyridoxine (vitamin B-6).

• Although not well documented, pears are among the least allergenic of all fruits and are therefore recommended by health practitioners as safe alternative in the preparation of food products for allergy sufferers.

• Pears have suggested being useful in treating colitis, chronic gallbladder disorders, arthritis and gout.

Selection and Storage

Fresh pears are readily available in the stores.  While Bartlett variety is predominant during summer, Comice, seckel etc...are main fall season pears. Asian pears are generally ready to harvest by August and available in the stores by September.

Choose fresh, bright, firm textured fruits with rich flavor. Avoid fruits with pressure marks over their surface as they indicate underlying mottled pulp. Some fruits, especially the Asian varieties, have rust colored speckles on their outer surface which is otherwise an acceptable characteristic.

Keep unripe pears in a basket with separate chambers at room temperature or wrap in paper to ripen as in papaya. Once their surface yields to gentle pressure, they are ripe and ready to be eaten.

To get the maximum nutrient benefits eat them while they are fresh.  Otherwise, keep them in the refrigerator where they will remain fresh for a few days.

Fresh apples can be kept at room temperature for few days and stored in refrigerator for two to three weeks.

Preparation and Serving tips

Wash them in clean running cold water before use to remove any surface dust and pesticide/fungicide residues.

Cut slice both ends using paring knife and cut it into two equal halves. Take out centrally placed small seeds. Slice the fruit into desirable cubes or pieces.

As in apple, sliced fruit pieces turns brown on exposure to air due to conversion of iron from ferrous oxide to ferric oxide. If you have to serve them sliced, rinse slices in water added with few drops of fresh lemon.

Here are some serving tips:

• Eat pear fruits as they are without any additions to get maximum health benefits.

• Pear is also used in the preparation of fruit juice, jam, pie, and fruit salad.

• As juice mix with other fruits like pineapple, peaches, grapes...etc.

• In the preparations of baby food.

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