Hard Pears

Piquant_2

Hi - I wonder if someone could help (I have done a search, but couldn't find anything) I bought a couple of pears on Sunday for my goat's cheese, pear and walnut salad (am taking my own lunch to work:D) but the pears are rock hard even today!! Is there a quick way of ripening them, currently they are crisper than a granny smith apple

Piq x

claireabelle_2

hi piquant... putting a banana in the bowl tends to help!

Piquant_2

Thanks Claireabelle - What a strange thing to do, wonder why it works!! I shall try it when I get home tonight and let you know how I get on.

many thanks again....

abaxas

Put them in a fruit bowl with some bananas.

The bananas give off this gas (cant rememebr that name) which ripens fruits more quickly. Same gas is used commercially to product 'just ripe' fruit and M&S etc.

Be careful though, pears are a !!!!!!. They'll wait until you are asleep, ripen perfectly, then when u wake up they'll be on the way out :<

Evil pears!!

HypnoNu

I think it's ethylene that banana's give off which helps ripen fruit and veg

HypnoNu

apparently it helps if you store the banana and fruit/veg you want to ripen in a paper bag, it stops the ethylene blowing away as it's the same density as the air so doesn't rise or sink but it does blow away when you disturb the air...say by walking past...

janb5

Can you put them on a sunny windowsill for them to ripen?

Piquant_2

This is amazing, thank you so much for your quick answers!

I think I've heard of the paper bag method before, somewhere in my dim and distant past, don't have any bags, do you think an envelope would do??

I wish I had a sunny windowsill - we were just bemoaning the lack of sun here at work!

Piq x

oliveoyl

I was told that you put them in the dark, rather than light to ripen them?

Actually that doesn't sound right does it? ... somebody might have been pulling my leg lol.

HypnoNu

An envelope will work, just pop your pears and your banana in there and wait for the magic to happen, i think the reason they suggest a paper bag is to let the fruit breathe otherwise it'd just sweat in a plastic bag...