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.

A popular dessert pear, the Bosc is highly aromatic with dense flesh and warm notes of honey. This pear 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.

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.

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.

The beautiful 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.

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.

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.