Nashi pear ∗ Uses, taste and top growing tips

the essentials in brief

• Nashi pears are best eaten raw, in a fruit salad or freshly squeezed as juice. Secondly, nashis are suitable for preserving as compote, jam or as an accompaniment to game dishes.
• the Nashi is a hardy, Asian pear species with apple-shaped, yellow-green fruits that are harvested in hobby gardens from September.
• Plant Nashi pears in a sunny, sheltered spot in normal garden soil. By planting nashi seeds, you can grow the Asian fruit tree yourself.
• Care tips: water regularly and fertilize with compost. Pruning care similar to that of the local apple or pear tree. Propagation by grafting onto culture pear stock or by cuttings of the ungrafted original species.
• Recommended varieties for private cultivation are: Hosui, Nijiseiki, Kosui and Kumoi as well as the original species Pyrus pyrifolia.

Nashi Pear Usage - Overview, Questions & Answers

The Nashi pear is also aptly called the apple pear. A thin, yellow-green skin encloses the apple-shaped fruit. The juicy flesh is crunchy and grainy, like an apple, and surprises with a sweet and sour pear taste. Inside a Nashi pear is a core, as we know it from local pears and apples. The following video shows why everyone is talking about Nashis in this country.

Nashis taste big and small - test food at Detlef Roman

How do you eat a nashi pear?

The sight of a Nashi pear makes fruit lovers' mouths water. A bite into the crunchy, juicy pulp lets ideas flow for delicious variations. The following table provides an overview of the best way to eat raw and cooked nashis:

Do you have to peel a Nashi pear?

You can peel a nashi pear, but you don't have to. In fact, the thin, yellowish-green or bronze skin contains most of the nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Peeled nashis oxidize in the air within a few minutes and the flesh, which is now yellow-brown, spoils the appetite.

Are Nashi pears suitable for compote?

Nashis are best eaten raw. Freshly harvested, the fruits go well with fruit salad or add a refreshing touch to raw vegetable salads. When boiled, Nashi pears are also a tasty compote.

When is a Nashi pear ripe?

The harvest season for yellow nashi varieties begins at the beginning of September. A ripe fruit can be recognized by a light yellow skin with seductive sun cheeks. The bronze-colored varieties are ripe at the end of September/beginning of October. A careful pressure test removes the last doubts about the ripeness for consumption. The Nashi pear is ripe when the flesh, which was previously firm, gives way when pressed with a finger.

Is the Nashi pear healthy?

The Nashi pear is a healthy treat for the whole family. Valuable vitamin C, potassium, calcium, phosphorus and iron strengthen the immune system, promote bone formation and metabolism. Because the apple pear contains little acid in the pulp, regular consumption has a calming effect on the stomach and intestines.

Characteristics

• Scientific name: Pyrus pyrifolia
• Genus: Pears (Pyrus)
• Origin: China, Japan
• Growth type: tree
• Flower: white, cupped
• Flowering time: April to May
• Fruit: apple-shaped, yellow-green, bronze-colored
• Taste: sweetish pear aroma
• Calorific value: 32 calories/100 g
• Harvest time: September to October
• Ripeness for consumption: light yellow with sun cheeks
• Hardiness: hardy

taste

The fruits of the original species Pyrus pyrifolia inspire with a fine pear taste. Sometimes orchard growers rave about a mild note of melon. Premium varieties spoil the palate with a light champagne taste or are reminiscent of the aroma of local ones apple varieties.

calorific value

Nashis are high in healthy nutrients and low in calories. The following overview gives important values ​​for each 100 grams of Nashi pears:

• Calorific value: 32 kcal (134 kJ)
• Vitamin C: 2 mg
• Magnesium: 35 mg
• bold: 0
• Carbohydrates: 8 g
• Dietary fiber: 2 g
• Bread units: 0.7 g

hardiness

In a sunny, warm location with a sheltered microclimate, the Nashi pear is reliably hardy in the bed. It has a positive effect on winter hardiness if you plant the apple pear in loose, humus-rich, fresh, moist soil with problem-free water drainage without the risk of waterlogging.

Planting Nashi – tips for hobby gardeners

The Nashi pear makes comparable demands of native cultivated pears. In the right location, nothing speaks against planting in the hobby garden. The following planting tips shed light on all the important framework conditions:

Grow your own Nashi pear

With each core you hold the seeds for a Nashi tree in your hands. You can overcome the sprout inhibition of Nashi seeds with a stratification. How to grow a Nashi pear yourself:

• Place seeds in a bag with moist substrate in the refrigerator for 3 months
• Plant stratified nashi kernels in a pot with coconut soil
• Sieve the seeds thinly with sand or coconut soil
• Press down the seed soil and moisten with a fine spray
• Cover the seed box with a transparent hood
• Moisten regularly in a warm, bright location
• When germination begins, remove the hood

Please use fresh seeds from the core of a Nashi original species Pyrus pyrifolia. To grow a Nashi variety, we recommend purchasing certified seeds from specialist retailers.

choose location

Reserve a sunny, warm, wind-protected spot for your Nashi pear in the garden. Modest soil requirements make the choice of location easy. A Nashi pear tree thrives vitally and productively in any normal garden soil. The soil should be rich in nutrients, loose and humus-rich and without the risk of waterlogging.

Plant

Planting time for a Nashi tree is in spring. Plant Nashi pears that you have grown yourself or bought ready-made in a spacious pit with a planting distance of two meters from each other or from a suitable pollinator. Drive a support stake into the ground to protect against windthrow. Use hose ties to connect the trunk and post below the crown and in the lower area. Tread the earth and muddy it tree disc one with rainwater.

digression

Nashi pear needs pollinators

Caring for Nashi pear - tips

The Nashi pear is undemanding in terms of water and nutrient supply. Horticultural challenges are propagation and pruning care. How to care for an apple pear in an exemplary manner:

Water and fertilize

Regular watering can easily ensure even soil moisture without waterlogging. Growth, abundance of flowers, yield and winter hardiness benefit from an organic nutrient supply. In April and June they work maturity compost soil into the ground and water. Nashi pear and pollinators are better protected against frost after the administration of potassium-rich comfrey manure in August.

multiply

If you are familiar with the refinement of fruit trees, you can propagate Nashi varieties yourself. Techniques such as copulation and oculation should be familiar to the hobby gardener. Premium varieties on the European market thrive on seedling stock from native cultivated pears such as 'Pyrodwarf', 'Kirchensaller Mostbirne' or 'Quitte'. Propagation is easier with cuttings an unrooted apple pear.

Cut the nashi pear

Expert pruning care makes a significant contribution to the fact that a Nashi pear thrives healthy and productively. For this aspect of care, please consult our in-depth tutorials with detailed instructions and pictures on the upbringing, maintenance and care fruit woodcut at apple trees and pear trees.

Diseases

Regarding the dreaded pear grating can be given the all-clear at this point. In European cultivation, Nashi pears have proven to be surprisingly resistant to the fungal infection.

Popular Varieties

The Nashi original species Pyrus pyrifolia is best-selling in Germany's tree nurseries, followed by grafted varieties that are ideal for the hobby garden:

• hosui: early harvest from the end of August, bronze-colored, apple-shaped fruits for many uses.
• Nijiseiki: self-fertile, easy to care for, medium-sized, champagne-flavoured, yellow-green fruits.
• kosui: white flowers from the beginning of April, large fruits, yellow-brown to bronze-colored, ready to eat from the beginning of September.
• komui: very robust and hardy, brown skin, white flesh with a sweet and aromatic taste.

FAQ

Can you preserve nashi pears?

Nashi pears are excellent for preserving as a compote. So that the valuable vitamins are not lost in the shell, it is best to proceed as follows: Peel 1 kg of nashis and cut out the core. Boil the peel, core, 1 clove and 1 cinnamon stick in 350 ml water for 10 minutes. Strain the broth and use as cooking water for the diced Nashi pears. Cook for about 5 minutes, adding 150 g of sugar and a pinch of vanilla, and pour into clean mason jars.

Process nashi pear into juice. How does it work?

With a juicer, you can make a refreshing juice from nashis in no time at all. Use ripe fruit with juicy, soft flesh. Ideally, don't peel the nashi pears because the peel contains many healthy vitamins. Cut the washed fruit into manageable pieces that you put into the juicer. At the push of a button, the fruit pieces are juiced. You enjoy a very healthy juice. Incidentally, nashi juice is said to work wonders against hangovers.

Does every Nashi variety need an additional pollinator?

Nurseries and garden centers also have self-fertile Nashi varieties ready for you. This includes the Asian apple pear 'Nijiseiki', which does not necessarily depend on neighboring Nashi varieties or pear trees as pollinators for pollination. However, the solitary Nijiseiki tree often has a sparse fruit load. An additional pollinator is therefore always advantageous.

What recipes are Nashi pears good for?

Fruity Nashi pears are suitable for all recipes that list pears or apples in the ingredients. This includes many fruity delicacies such as compote, fruit puree, jam, pear juice, apple juice, milkshakes, pear pie, apple pie or ice cream. You can transfer the quantities for local pear and apple varieties to nashis without hesitation.

What should be considered when storing Nashi pears?

Ripe nashis can be stored at room temperature for up to two weeks. To prevent yellow-brown bruises, place the fruit next to each other and not on top of each other. Storage in the refrigerator is not recommended because the cool temperatures significantly affect the taste and aroma.