Ripens to a creamy yellow color with many conspicuous brown lenticels. Only use is as a canning pear. Harvest 5 to 6 weeks after Bartlett. The Asian or Oriental pear has been in this country since the late 1800s, but has not been planted regularly until the last 5 years. These pears, sometimes referred to as Oriental pears, Chinese pears, or Japanese pears, are considerably different from the old hard homegrown varieties like Keiffer and Seckel.
Asian pears have a distinct but pearlike taste and a crisp texture, much like a good apple.
Many Asian pear varieties also have an apple-like shape, and this combination of taste, texture and shape causes many people to refer to them as apple pears. Sometimes they also are called salad pears or sand pears. The biggest problem with the adaptation of Asian pears has been fire blight, a common bacterial disease that attacks pears and apples and can kill blooms, young tender shoots, and sometimes major limbs and whole trees. Plant at least two Asian pear varieties to assure cross-pollination and good fruit set. Do not rely on common pear varieties to pollinate Asian pears.