What a Pear

I just polished off a pear (the one on the left) and the one on the right will be taking a trip with me tomorrow (fruit is always a staple in my carry-on bag). Right now my local market is overflowing with pears of all shapes, colors, and sizes and I’m loving it! There are hundreds of varieties grown throughout the world, but in the U.S., the fantastic four include Bartlett (red and yellow), Anjou (the one on the right, which also comes in red), Comice, and Bosc (left one – now in my belly).

Pears are a great source of dietary fiber which is one of the reasons why eating pears can prevent you from becoming pear-shaped! One medium pear provides about 100 calories, mostly from carbohydrate, but roughly (no pun intended) 20% of the carbs in a pear come from dietary fiber. Fiber fills you up, but fiber itself is not digested or absorbed. It just sort of travels through your digestive tract, but it never gets to the “other side” (i.e. into your blood) where it must either be burned off or stored as fat. So in essence, that part of the pear is “free food.” And fiber’s great for lowering cholesterol and keeping us ahem “regular.”

Every week I’ve been buying one of each, but when I get them home, I have a hard time deciding how to eat them. I love enjoying them as is, but they’re also great in field green salads (with walnuts and balsamic vinaigrette), or baked with spices (especially Bosc drizzled with 1 tsp maple syrup mixed with 1 Tbsp water and a dash of cloves – yummy!).

Ok, I’m off to pack (going to burrrrr Chicago).

Before I go, did you know?
-Pears are members of the rose family
-The scientific name for pear is Pyrus communis
-Placing a pear in a paper bag will help it ripen faster
-One medium pear provides 10% of the vitamin C we need daily

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