Pear Cider Tree

[DisplacedSailor]

Greetings all! I'm still searching this site and the vastness of the internet to find a decent pear tree for Zone 9A/8B boundary and wondered if anyone here could provide some insight. So far I know the following pear trees will grow well in my area:

Baldwin
Spalding
Orient
Maxine
Moonglow
Ayers

Is it that critical to have a "perry" pear? Most of the recipes I've found here seem to suggest that it isn't. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

 

[gregbathurst]

The pear cider widely available is mainly due to lots of cheap pear juice from china. Pear juice on its own will not give a very interesting drink so is usually blended with apple. The purpose of perry varieties is to give fruit that will have enough flavour and acidity to make a nice drink without blending with apples. It isn't critical to use perry varieties if you are happy to blend.

 

[saramc]

Throw in an Asian pear if you can plant one, it adds a great variety to apple or pear ferments.

 

[Ciderist]

Greg is right that true perry pears, like cider apples will add acidity. Most dessert pears are horribly low in acid to make a perry that will ferment cleanly and be stable after the fact. Tannin is in my opinion the main reason to use perry pears. You want the astringency and bittering qualities that perry (or seedling) pears will have.

As far as blending goes, perry does not act consistently as is the case with cider. You can easily get chill hazes or other problems when blending perries.

Bull Run Cider in Forest Grove, Oregon grows perry pears and will sell trees too.

 

[gregbathurst]

Perry pears do give hazes but I haven't had that problem with dessert pears. Perry is by reputation a difficult drink to make well, the fact there aren't many producers of real perry shows its not as easy as cider. I have planted some perry trees and they have been badly attacked by pear slug so I have decided not to plant any more, I would rather grow trees that don't need spraying.

 

[DisplacedSailor]

It isn't critical to use perry varieties if you are happy to blend.

By this statement do you mean blend varieties of pears or pears with apples? I'm attempting to set up this property to be as self-sufficient as possible (i.e. I'm a cheap bastard and don't want to buy what I can grow). These pear trees will be paired up with a couple of hives, couple of satsuma trees and mix of berries to provide our sweets, jellies and most importantly alcohol.

Thanks for all of the responses thus far, they are greatly appreciated.

 

[gregbathurst]

I mean blending with apple to give flavour and acidity. Pears give non-fermentable sugars which add a bit of residual sweetness, but this is a bit variable with the seasons, some years you seem to get a lot of sorbitol, other years not so much. You could plant a couple of apple trees as well, they make beautiful trees.
There is a lot of dessert pear/apple cider around, not so much straight dessert pear.

 

[DisplacedSailor]

Apple is a bit of an issue in South Louisiana to get the required chill times, but I see that there are a couple varieties that would possibly work. Guess I'll try a couple of each to hedge my bets and make the best brew I can.

Thanks!

 

[gregbathurst]

I wasn't aware of your latitude, but i know there were some low-chill apple varieties developed for florida. I am surprised you can grow pears, certainly not perry pears. I think rum is the drink they make in the tropics.

 

[DisplacedSailor]

It's only certain (and limited) varieties of pears as listed above that will work. Think I'm going to try an Anna and either a Golden Dorsett or Ein Shemer if I can find it. For pear, I think Ayers and Kieffer. All subject to change as I do more research and speak with local tree people.

 

[gregbathurst]

You can do a straight pear drink if you add acid such as malic or tartaric. It won't be very flavourful but those low chill apples aren't great for flavour either. The best way might be to backsweeten with juice and pasteurise, to get extra flavour. Probably you should just go with whatever will grow best in your climate.