Harvest Report

Featured Product: Royal Riviera® Pears

To taste this remarkable fruit is to enjoy a rare gourmet experience: A timeless flavor and texture that have both remained unchanged for more than 150 years. It is one of the many excellent pear varieties that came about as a result of a fierce rivalry that flourished among aristocratic landowners throughout southern Europe in the 19th century. In fact, it was considered the height of fashion to enter one's own estate-grown pears in the international horticultural exhibitions which, back then, were all the rage.

Fruit History

The Royal Riviera® Pear was first grown in the vicinity of Angers, France, in the 1840s. Those early crops were chancy and difficult to bring to harvest, but the taste and texture of the few pears that survived were so clearly superior, the entire crop was reserved for the exclusive enjoyment of nobility.

Royal Riviera® Pears are so temperamental about soil and water and light and temperature that they're really at home in only a few places in the world. By the late 1800s, horticulturists had discovered that this sublime variety seemed to thrive here – in the interior valleys of Southern Oregon.

It takes nearly 20 years for a Royal Riviera® Pear tree to hit its productive stride – and some of the trees here in the Harry and David orchards are over 60 years old now. For all those years they've been pruned, watered, fed and generally pampered into producing fruit of exceptionally high quality. The pears must be nurtured through spring frosts, summer hailstorms, autumn winds – and the harvest itself. (Royal Riviera® Pears are so thin-skinned they're actually more difficult to handle than hen's eggs.) They're a scarce commodity – highly prized, extremely rare, truly magnificent.

Ripening Instructions

To ripen Royal Riviera® Pears, keep them in their shipping box – with the lid on – at room temperature. While they may be ready to eat when they arrive, it usually takes a few more days for them to ripen fully. Check them daily by pressing your thumb gently to the flesh at the base of the stem. When ripe, it will yield slightly.

Color is not an indicator of ripeness. Royal Riviera® Pears retain their pale green hue even when they're mellow and juicy inside. Royal Riviera® Pears are not a clear-skinned fruit, and some degree of freckling or russeting is to be expected. This does not affect their flavor or quality.

Once ripe, place the pears in the refrigerator. Refrigeration slows the ripening process, but doesn't stop it entirely. So be sure to enjoy your pears within a week to ten days.