In the produce section where I sometimes shop they sell two items that I have never purchased or eaten. They sell Asian pears and Cactus pears. They don't look at all like traditional pears and the research I did makes it clear that they are not just another variety of a pear. They don't sell singles, just a bag.

I try to insure that a good portion of my diet are fruits and vegetables, I would like to expand my horizons some. I know that taste is subjective. But what say you? If you have had either of these, what do you think? Do you like or dislike either one? Are they sour, sweet, bland? Do they taste anything like any other fruit you can name? Thanks

Asian pears are very firm (hard) even more so than green apples. They are not sweet or soft like Bartlett or Bosc pears.
They are a bit more tart (maybe bland is better description), but they are good.
(ate a ton in Okinawa and Japan)

I have never eaten Paw Paw/Prickly pear, (Cactus pear), but one day I will try them.

Asian pears can be sweet. We have a farmer nearby that grows several varieties of them, and some are very sweet. I love them and find them to be firm like an apple, but sweeter like a pear. I think the sweetest ones I've had are Hosui.

I've never eaten a Prickly Pear, but my mom used to make jelly from them, and it was fabulous!

flashguy

Prickly pears are delicious. The fuzzy little dots though are small hair like quills and a real pain. The fruit is delicious but inside are a lot of rock hard little seeds you have to eat around. Most people slice the fruit open down its length and then with tongs fillet it open to get at the flesh.

The Sprouts Grocery stores (based in Phoenix, we have them in OKC) brings in some really weird looking produce all the time.

The other day they had a really weird produce item, and I thought it might be some sort of demented Halloween decoration.

The label read "Buddha's Hand" and it was, to me, too gross to even think about eating. It sort of resembles the result of an Octopus doing the wild thing with a Lemon. Of course I had no idea, so when I got home I googled it. Turns out it's a Citrus Fruit, lemon flavored, and the rind is edible as opposed to the rind of an ordinary lemon.

Here's a Link to Buddha's Hand Scroll down for some more pics.

Sprouts always has some new weird fruit or vegetable.
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quote:

Originally posted by chbibc:
Asian pears can be sweet.

This is my limited experience too. Dessert like sweet.

Asian pears tend to be closer to apples in texture but, they're definitely in the pear family. Like most fruit, the good ones are sweet, some have an understated tartness to them but, nothing overpowering. Texture wise they're more crisp than the more common Bartlett, D'Anjou and Bosc varieties, they hold a lot of water and bruise easily.

In Japan, premium food markets have 'boutique' fruit, grown and cultivated to super-high standards (and sold at crazy high prices )(its for gift-giving), you'll see the pears sold with bubble-wrap or, some type of padding to protect them while on-display.

Prickly pears can be delicious when ripe. The trick is avoiding the tiny tiny white spines on the skin which are nearly impossible to see! I slice the top and bottom skin off (try to slice it just as it stops at the fruit itself). I then make a slit through the skin from top to bottom. I do all the above while holding it with a double or tripled paper towel. I then gently 'unroll' the skin off the fruit, throw the paper towel out and put the cutting plate in the sink for a rinse. I put the fruit on a clean plate or in a clean bowel to serve. Green or red, or mixed, they all have the same flavor. Avoid very soft or bruised fruit. I look for the largest ones. They have a consistency like watermelon, only a little firmer. I don't pick out the seeds, rather eat them along with the fleshy part, but if one has diverticulosis or itis, that may not be a good idea! Mexican groceries tend to stock them in the winter months at fairly decent prices.