Can I freeze pears?

Botany

I have a bumper-crop of pears. i would like to peel them, make them into cubes, and freeze them in 'individual' portions (enough to be used when needed in a fruit salad).

Is this feasible, or will the pears defrost badly?

Farway

No experience in pear freezing, but as pears have a high juice content I suspect use in fruit salad when defrosted would not be possible as the cubes would be mushy, like frozen strawberries or tomatoes

OK in crumble etc where puree / pulp is used

Hope someone has "real" answer

The pear variety would help, as some are juicer than others, which could affect the end result

Botany

Thank you for your reply Farway :T

I don't know the variety of the pears as I did not buy them; they come from a tree in the garden which I didn't plant myself. Judging from their aspect etc, I would take an informed guess and say the are 'conference' pears. But take this with a pinch of salt as I am not 100% sure.

tessasmum

We have successfully frozen pears from a tree in my uncle's garden - and they come out quite nicely. We core and peel them and then gently cook in water for a few minutes depending on how firm they are - maybe 10 minutes for firm ones and slightly less for riper ones. Then I drain them and make a syrup (8oz sugar boiled up in half a litre of water). I pack the pears into rigid containers and then pour the syrup over them once it has cooled a little. Then leave to cool completely and freeze. They come out a bit like tinned pears - not mushy. Hope that helps a little.

greenbee

I find pears freeze fine when poached or juice, but not raw.

foxgloves

Hi, have also got huge crop of pears. I don't think freezing them in their raw state will work. I might do some with syrup as previous post suggests. Also planning to make loads of chutney as that's good for swaps & presents as well as fine for keeping for a couple of years.

Botany

I am very grateful for all your answers. I am not keen on syrups so I will try parboiling them first. I think this will be best for me because even if briefly cooked, I should still be able to use the pears for future fruit salads. Thank you very very much for all your suggestions :j:j:j

Aril

Perhaps you could dry some if you've got the oven on for something else. As others have said I should think stewing them might be a possibility as bottling them would need some type of syprup I would imagine
Aril

irishwexford

Thanks Tessamum. I had a load of hard pears (windfalls) and used your method of freezing them in boiled water and sugar, they taste sweet and juicy. Look forward to eating them at a later date. Cooked them in micro for about ten mins then made juice and into freezer. I can always find answers on this site.