Williams pear

Poire Williams

What it is

The tree turned up in a schoolmaster’s garden at Aldermaston in Berkshire before 1770; the nurseryman Richard Williams attached his name to it in 1814, and when Enoch Bartlett planted it in Massachusetts in 1817 he renamed it after himself. It is one pear under two names, and the only one whose aroma survives distillation, which is why eau-de-vie is made from no other.

In the kitchen

It ripens off the tree and from the inside out, so judge it by pressing the neck, never the belly — by the time the belly gives, the core is mush. For poaching, take it two days short of ripe.

Goes with

Dark chocolate Roquefort Vanilla Cinnamon Butter Walnut Honey

Same species

Nashi pear Pear Perry vinegar Comice pear Poire tapée

In season alongside

Longan Cantaloupe melon Fig Greengage Honeycomb Honeydew melon

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