Winter and Summer Pears: What’s the Difference?

22.08.2023 - 16:07 / gardenerspath.com / Kristine Lofgren

Winter and Summer Pears: What’s the Difference?

There seems to be some confusion about what a winter pear is versus a summer one.

You might see some people describe winters as those that must ripen in cold storage for a period of several weeks or more and summers as those that are ripe straight off the tree.

That’s not entirely accurate.

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The two types of fruits are categorized by commercial growers according to when the fruit is ready to harvest. That’s all there is to it.

Summers are ready to pick in the summer, typically around August or early September. Winters are ready starting in late September through October.

But there are a few winter types that are sweet enough to eat straight off the tree and a few summer types that require cold storage to fully come into their sweetness, so they can’t solely be defined by how much cold storage they require to taste their best.

There are a few other broad generalizations that we can make about the two categories as well, and we’ll talk about those in a bit. But there are always exceptions.

There are even some cultivars that ripen right in the period where the two categories overlap, and growers don’t totally agree on which category they belong in.

So, it’s best to think of the two seasonally-defined categories as a general guideline rather than a hard-and-fast rule.

Don’t worry if you’re a bit confused. We’ll make it all a bit more clear in just a second. Here’s what we’ll go over to that end:

Whether a pear fits into either category is less important than which trees it’s a compatible pollinator with, so we’ll talk a little about that as well.

Ready to sort it