Few pieces of knowledge are as critical to living a good life as knowing when to eat a pear. Perfectly ripe pears are luscious and compliant with a honey fragrance — they are life-changingly delicious.
Unripe pears are bitter, tooth-bending rock of fruit; overripe ones are a grainy, mushy mess. They are life-changingly awful.
Eat a pear when the flesh near the stem, at the pear’s neck, just begins to soften. Ripen at room temperature, refrigerate when they’re ripe. The best pears are not tree-ripened, so don’t be afraid to buy hard pears at the market.
Autumn Pear Salad is crunchy and sweet and bitter and creamy and you can’t stop eating it. A fabulous side dish, welcomed potluck offering, and perfect light lunch (just toss in cooked chicken).
Autumn Pear Salad
2 Bosc Pears (or really, any kind you like)
2 heads Belgian endive (long, skinny, torpedo-looking vegetable)
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons walnut oil or olive oil
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 ounces crumbled blue cheese
Slice the pears and endive into uniform, long matchsticks. Toss with walnuts, oil, vinegar, mustard, and cheese. Eat under large oak tree, breathing in the warm Indian Summer air.