For Retailers : Pears

Varieties

Pear season begins in June!

California pears are a summer fruit. In fact, the pear season begins with Rivermaid Trading Company in June with Sunsprite and Starkrimson pears.

Then the refreshing flavor and juiciness of summer pears really escalates in July as we begin to harvest and ship promotable volumes of delicious California Barletts.

A complete varietal program all season long

While we are best known as the leader in Bartlett and Golden Bosc volume, we also have one of the industry’s most complete varietal programs.

Varietal pears make a significant impact on the overall category. By including varietals in your product mix, you not only increase sales of varietals, but Bartletts as well.

Discover the benefits of giving your customers “one-stop shopping” where they can find all varieties in all packs – even specialty packs – all season long.

Get to know our varieties:

  • Bartlett

    Availability: July - December
    Growing regions: California and Oregon

    Considered the sweetest, juiciest and most flavorful pear, the Bartlett is America’s most popular variety. It ripens at room temperature, turning from bright green to mild yellow, and yielding to gentle pressure. The Bartlett is perfect for fruit salads or slicing into lettuce salads with crumbled blue cheese, and also excellent for canning and cooking.

  • Golden Bosc

    Availability: Late July - December
    Growing regions: California

    A popular dessert pear, the Bosc is highly aromatic, with dense, sweet-spicy flesh that is ideal for baking, poaching and cooking. When ripening, the brown skin of the Bosc pear does not change color; instead, the stem end shrivels when fully ripe.

  • Seckel

    Availability: Late August - December
    Growing regions: California

    Small in size but big on sweetness, the Seckel pear does not change color when ripening – it simply becomes soft around the stem when ripe. It’s an excellent dessert pear with cheese, in children’s snacks or baked into tartlets or cookies.

  • Comice

    Availability: Mid-August - December
    Growing regions: California and Oregon

    With the highest sugar content of all pears, the Comice is sweet and juicy, with a rich buttery flavor and a smooth, fine texture that makes it perfect for snacking, or served as a dessert pear with cheese. Its greenish-yellow color changes very little during ripening, but it does yield to pressure and soften around the stem when ripe.

  • Rivermaid Red

    Availability: Late July – mid- November
    Growing regions: California

    The beautiful Rivermaid Red Pear has the same flavor and texture as the Bartlett, but its unique color adds a gourmet touch to salads, desserts and cooking. As its name implies, when the Red Pear is fully ripe, it displays a bright red skin.

  • Starkrimson

    Availability: Early July – mid-September
    Growing regions: California

    The Starkrimson is a mild, sweet pear with a subtle floral aroma. It is very juicy when ripe and has a pleasant, smooth texture, making it perfect for snacking, salads, or any fresh use that shows off the brilliance of its skin. The Starkrimson’s skin changes color as it ripens. Its color turns from deep crimson to bright crimson red, and its skin also becomes more thin and delicate.

  • Forelle

    Availability: Late August - December
    Growing regions: California and Oregon

    The Forelle’s small size and juicy sweetness make it well suited for kids’ lunches, paired with cheese in appetizers or simply eaten out-of-hand. As the Forelle ripens, its greenish skin turns bright yellow, adding flecks of crimson when fully ripe.

  • Sunsprite

    Availability: Late June – mid-July
    Growing regions: California

    Nicknamed "Baby Bartlett" for its small size and Bartlett shape, the sweet Sunsprite pear is the ideal addition to kids’ lunches, appetizers – even floral arrangements. Its green skin changes little when ripening, yellowing slightly when fully ripe.

  • French Butter

    Availability: Late August - September
    Growing regions: California

    Nearly brown like a Bosc, shaped like a D'Anjou and a texture somewhat like the Comice, the French Butter pear does have a flavor all of its own. Sweet and smooth-textured, its flesh is very juicy.

  • Taylor’s Gold

    Availability: Late August - September
    Growing regions: California

    Cinnamon-colored Taylor's Gold pears have a smooth uniform russet skin. Delicately perfumed, creamy, juicy and very tender, this special pear's flesh offers an extraordinary rich, sweet flavor.

  • Anjou

    Availability: Late August - January (The Anjou does well in cold storage and MA storage, which makes it available almost year ‘round)
    Growing regions: Oregon

    Green Anjou pears are recognizable for their egg-shaped appearance, having a larger spherical lower portion that begins a gradual taper above the mid-point to a narrower rounded top. Their skin color is bright green, and sometimes has a soft red blush. Skin color shows only very subtle color change while ripening.