It is hard to resist buying pears when they first appear in shops again after being out of season. There’s something about the shape of a pear; it looks perfectly designed, and it is intriguing to see the difference in the shape of each variety. The william is an early-season pear, yellow tinged with pale green, and is usually very juicy. It is delicious eaten with gorgonzola cheese. The winter cole is smaller, round in shape and greenish turning to russet, and pale yellow when ripe. The beurre bosc is elongated with a russet skin turning to a dark cinnamon when mature. The packham, similar in appearance to the william, is greenish-yellow turning to light yellow when ripe. The packham is good for poaching or in a tart.
For poaching, choose pears that are under-ripe but not too hard. Hard pears never seem to soften no matter how long they have been cooked and they just don’t have the flavour of fruit that is just about to ripen.