How to Pick Nashi Pears | Nashipear.com.au

A good nashi pear is firm, heavy for its size, and shows even golden-brown or russet skin with no soft spots. The single most important thing to know is that nashi pears do not soften and ripen on the counter the way European pears do. They are picked ready to eat. Firm equals fresh. Soft equals overripe.

With that in mind, the checks at the shop are straightforward.

Look

Skin colour depends on the variety.

Hosui, Shinko, Chojuro, Housi. Russet varieties. Look for even golden-brown to bronze colour across the whole fruit. Patchy or streaky russet is not a problem (it is normal russet variation), but the underlying colour should be warm and consistent.
Nijisseiki, Shinseiki. Smooth-skinned varieties. Look for pale yellow with a faint green tint. Heavy green tones suggest the fruit was picked too early.

Across all varieties, avoid bruises, sunken patches, mould at the stem, and visible cuts in the skin.

Feel

The fruit should feel firm under gentle pressure, similar to a good apple. Not rock hard. Not yielding. If your thumb leaves an indent, the fruit is past its best.

This is the most common pitfall. Shoppers used to buying European pears expect to choose firm fruit and ripen it at home. Nashi do not work that way. A nashi that feels like a ripe Williams pear is overripe.

Weight

Pick up two nashi of similar size and choose the heavier one. Nashi are about 88 per cent water, and heavy means juicy. A light nashi is a dry, mealy nashi.

Smell

A ripe nashi gives off a faint sweet or floral scent at the stem end. The smell is subtle. If it is strong and fermented, the fruit has gone over.

Stem

The stem should still be attached, dry, and firm. A missing stem is not a deal-breaker, but a soft, dark, or slimy stem is a sign the fruit is old.

What to avoid

Soft patches anywhere on the fruit
Bruising, particularly on the underside
Wrinkled or sunken skin
A strongly fermented or alcoholic smell
Mould at the stem end
Very heavy green tones on Nijisseiki or Shinseiki (under-ripe)

A note on nashi versus European pears

European pears (Williams, Beurre Bosc, Packham) are picked hard and ripened off the tree. You buy them firm, leave them on the bench for a few days, and eat them when they yield at the stem.

Nashi do not do this. They reach eating ripeness on the tree and are picked at that point. Once off the tree, they hold quality in cold storage for weeks but they do not get sweeter or softer. The texture stays crisp like an apple, not buttery like a ripe European pear. If you bring home a soft nashi expecting it to be at peak, it will not be. It is past it.

Buying at the supermarket

Coles and Woolworths sell nashi loose by the piece, usually unwrapped, sometimes in a small foam sleeve. Pick fruit individually using the checks above. The supermarket label rarely names the variety. From late February through May the fruit is most likely Australian, from June through August it is most likely cold-stored, and from September through January it is most likely imported.

Buying at a greengrocer or market

Independent greengrocers, Harris Farm in NSW, and the public areas of Sydney Markets and Brisbane Markets are good places to pick individual fruit and ask about variety and source. A grower or knowledgeable greengrocer will tell you whether the fruit is Hosui, Nijisseiki, Shinseiki, or Shinko, and when it was packed.

In the Goulburn Valley, packing shed door sales and farm gates offer the freshest fruit during the late February to May window.

By variety: what good looks like

Hosui. Even bronze-russet skin, firm, heavy. Slight floral smell at the stem.

Nijisseiki. Pale yellow-green skin with no russet, smooth, firm, heavy. Mild scent.

Shinseiki. Pale yellow-green, very smooth skin, firm, heavy.

Shinko. Deeper russet, sometimes almost cinnamon-coloured, firm and dense. Stores well and arrives at retail later in the season.

Kosui. Smaller, russet, very firm. Sweet scent stronger than most.