Crab pears?

[39TDS]

Never knew such a thing existed until today.

Stopped to pick a few of these strange looking things. I originally thought they must be russeted crab apples but they are definitely pear.

A bit embarrassed to say I am 50 years old and have passed this tree very regularly for the last 40 years without noticing. Maybe this year was the first it has fruited.

Anybody familiar with such things?

 

Edited October 18, 2014 by 39TDS

[r1steele]

I've always known them as hazel pears but that could just be a local term for them. Used to pick them as a youngster from a single group of trees next to an old coal yard but it has since gone and it was the only tree that I knew of in my area. Haven't seen them for years.

Edited October 18, 2014 by r1steele

[39TDS]

I've always known them as hazel pears .........

I know very little about them at all but I do believe they are called hazel pears.

A chap I vaguely know wrote about them on a cider forum a few years back. I had no idea what he was talking about as I had never seen one, he only lives a few miles away too.

Apparently they were used in the tanning industry but I don't know how.

I was amazed just how much juice was in them, nothing like crab apples which hardly give any juice.

Equally amazing was just how dry they taste when you bite them. Like a sloe but way stronger than that, my tongue is still a bit sore.

 

What did you pick them for? Did you actually use them for anything?

[r1steele]

We used to 'try' and eat them. I can half remember my mother using them for making a jam/jelly a bit like crab apple jelly but it was so long ago I'm not sure. From memory I do think they cook better than they are raw, a bit like bramley's.