How to Know When a Pear is Ripe - Eat Like No One Else

Struggling for that perfect timing to know that the pear you are eating is ripe? Tired of biting into a pear and find that it's rotten inside? Let's give you some tips so that you won't experience this again.

A bowl with two of each of these types of pears from left to right - Bartlett, Red D'Anjou, and D'Anjou. The bowl is on a blue striped towel.

Pears are a tricky fruit.

A delicious fruit, yet tricky.

What do I mean? Well sometimes they are obvious when they are ripe and ready. And sometimes not so obvious.

Pears need to be picked before they are perfectly ripe or they won't last long. I mean there is no way to get them to the store or even to a farmer's market before they would be rotten to the core. Most of the time when you buy pears they won't be ready yet.

So you need to know the secret to when a pear is ripe, so that either you don't bite into a crunchy, unripe fruit or one that is rotten on the inside already.

Jump to:

❔ How to Tell When Ripe
❄️ Do You Put Pears in the Fridge?
💨 How to Ripen Fast
🍐 Pear Varieties
📧 Email List

Two Bartlett pears on a blue striped towel. The pear on the right is nearly completely yellow while the pear on the left still has some green in it's skin.

❔ How to Tell When Ripe

The best way to tell if a pear is at it's peak, is if you apply gentle pressure to the neck of the pear and it gives a little. There should be no give around the thicket part of the middle of the pear or the pear has already soft inside.

Pears rot from the inside out! That is what makes them little tricksters.

Some people go by color and that works with some pears. The common Bartlett pear turns from green to yellow. But a lot of varieties don't change colors at all (D'Anjou for example), so you are best doing the neck check.

When you are able to get a pear that is at that perfect ripeness zone, oh my goodness. It's heaven. So good. Juicy and sweet. Just perfect.

However that perfect moment is very fleeting. But there is a way to buy some time.

❄️ Do You Put Pears in the Fridge?

When your pears pass the neck check, either use them all up that day, or place them in the fridge. Don't refrigerate them until they pass the check or you will delay the ripening process. Maybe if you have a lot of pears this is something you'll want to do.

When I picked pears off my pear tree, I did refrigerate some so that they wouldn't all be ripe at the same time.

Even when pears are ripe and you refrigerate them you really should enjoy them in 3-5 days, a week tops. Bring the pears to room temperature first for optimal flavor.

💨 How to Ripen Fast

If you are looking to speed up the process, place your pears in a brown paper bag and seal it up good. Then check daily until ready. You can even throw in a banana, it will sped up the process.