51. Beurre Hardy - Dessert Pear
Season : Flowers April - Harvest October
Pollination : Self Sterile. Group D
Buerre Hardy pears are medium to large with rough, light green skin covered with a fine bronze russet, and sometimes flushed with red.
The flesh is creamy white, tender, juicy and sweet with an aromatic flavour slightly reminiscent of rosewater.
As with most high quality pears, they are best picked when still firm / hard, and ripened indoors.
These are relatively late season pears, and will benefit from a warm and sunny spot to fully develop their flavour as they ripen.
Raised c 1820 by a M. Bonnet in Boulogne, France, it was acquired by the nurseryman M. Jamin in 1830 who named the variety after M. Hardy, Director of the Jardins Luxembourg in Paris.
It is a widely grown commercial variety in France and elsewhere in continental Europe, but only on a very small scale in the UK
Pyrus communis 'Beurre Hardy'
A classic French pear, long popular in England,
tender, juicy and sweet with a hint of rosewater.