The Pear as a Symbol

"The purpose of art is expression. Expression is a process of sending ideas. Art is any recorded experience that draws us back to it, holds us there, grows inside us, becomes part of us..."
-C.W. Fisher, from the blog The Purpose of Art



Pear by fjuk, a rather sexy use of the fruit



To better understand the kind of relationship human culture has with the pear, I thought that I would begin my journey by reading into the non-culinary or agricultural purposes it serves us. As described in the above quote, art has often been used to get snapshots of human culture, where the prominent pieces of an era are captured in something as simple as a still life painting of a bowl of grapes next to the dead pheasant. In The Pear in History paper from Purdue University, Janick describes how the pear has appeared in literature and art as early as the 9th century BC, mentioned in Homer's famous epic, The Odyssey.

The four trees of Paradise, 6th century mosaic from Jordan (pear in top right corner) 

Pear, pere, poire, peer, paere, paron, pera, pirne, apios, li, nashi... each culture that has admired and used the pear as a food crop not only has their own word for it, but also attached their own symbolism. In general, fruits are attributed to the Greek god Dionysus in Western culture, known for his delight in all earthly pleasures- food, alcohol, and sex. The pear is a particularly erotic example,  echoing the shape of women. Christianity certainly reinforces this association with the temptation in the Garden of Eden, which is traditionally associated with the apple, though the snake could have very well offered a pear, fig, or pomegranite... oddly enough, the pear is also connected with Christ's unbiased love for humanity.


Basket of Pears, mosaic in Museum of El Djem in
The House of Africa in Tunisia, North Africa

Asian cultures particularly hold the pear tree in high regard, connecting themes of innocence, longevity, grace, and nobility. The heart shaped white blossoms are thought to be symbolic of a young woman's beauty and purity, but also of transience and sad departure as the petals come and go in such a short time. The Chinese word for pear, li, is also the same word for seperation, so it is not advisable for friends or lovers to share halves of a pear for fear of being seperated...

Whether this is true, I tend to insist that a friend have their own pear instead of sharing one together.






Resources:

Fisher, C.W. "The Purpose of Art." BC: Blog Critics. Blog Critics Magazine, 05 14 2004. Web. 3 Oct. 2013. http://blogcritics.org/the-purpose-of-art/.

Fjuk. Pear. 2006. Array. Deviant ArtWeb. 29 Oct 2013.

Culinary Appreciation of the Pear

Now, this is familiar territory for me. I couldn't wait to have a reason to be in the kitchen- performing acts of gastronomic alchemy on pears, transforming them into sweet, melting desserts or rich, savory dishes.

Roasted Sugar Glazed Pears from SAVEUR magazine... food porn if I ever saw any

I've been lucky to have found several varieties of pears available at the Hunger Mountain Coop in Montpelier, Vermont. Scott Farm, a local orchard based in Dummerstom, Vermont, offered a few that I've been dreaming of trying since I first read about them: Seckel, Bosc, and Magness. Of course, I bought the obligatory West coast Bartlett that I'd grown up eating out of hand and in syrupy canned slices, and completely passed over the Red Anjou (my memory brings back a juicy but one dimensional sweetness). My interest in not in the ordinary, but for comparision's sake, I will eventually get a hold of one...

A great site called Pear Panache, supported by the nonprofit trade association Pear Bureau Northwest, had tons of professional advice and recipes from chefs around the world. It's probably my favorite one so far, with humorous subheadings that say "Become One with the Pear" or "We'd Sing an Ode to Pears, but Our Mouths Are Full".

Some basic guidelines follow the use of pears:

1) Select an appropriate variety that will be able to stand up to whatever you do to it. Some hold up better than others or fall apart in just the way you hoped they would.

2) If using raw, be patient and allow the fruit to ripen in a paper bag or similar dark space. A day can make all the difference in the world how you experience the texture and flavors of a pear! Check for ripeness by pressing your thumb into the neck underneath the stem for a slight softness.

3) Any recipe using apples can be substituted for pear, utilizing warm aromatic spices such as ginger, cinnamon, star anise, and clove. They can be baked, grilled, sliced raw into salads, poached, and pureed ad infinitum.

4) Raw pears begin to oxidize soon after they're cut into, so if the appearence is important they can de dipped into lemon juice.

5) As a personal preference, I like to keep the pear's shape in tact so people know what is waiting for them on the dish and don't mistake them for apples. The shape is unmistakeable and should remain that way!

After considerable research, I selected two savory and three sweet recipes that I found on the websites of Saveur and Epicurious magazine. I've already prepared and documented two with great success, that I will further elaborate on in upcoming posts.

Well, okay, I actually picked a huge list with like twenty recipes, but I won't blog about them all because I'm just really excited about showing off. This may be a clinical case of fruit monomania...

My selections...

Pear and Stilton Tart with Carmelized Onions
Pork Tenderloin with Sauteed Pears in a  Brandy Cream Sauce
Pear Tarte Tatin
Torte di Pere (Bittersweet Chocolate and Pear Cake)
Pear Clafoutis
Garnet Poached Pears with Marscapone

References

Koenig, Leah. "One Ingredient, Many Ways: Pears." SAVEUR.com. Saveur, 8 Sept. 2011. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/One-Ingredient-Many-Ways-Pears>.

Pear Panache. Pear Bureau Northwest, n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. http://www.pearpanache.com/.

Rooney, Beth. "Roasted Sugar-Glazed Pears." SAVEUR.com. Saveur, 9 Nov. 2012. Web. 08 Nov. 2013. <http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Roasted-Glazed-Pears>.

The Beginning of a Long Term Relationship

Loot from suburban foraging as a sophomore in high school

What compelled me to select the European pear, or Pyrus communis?

Aside from having nibbled on Bartletts from the grocery store, or eaten syrupy canned slices, I hadn't seriously considered the pear as a crop worth exploring until one day in high school when I took a different route home.

Turning onto Freedom Way, I instantly noticed the pear tree dominanting the front yard of small white house. Spending a great deal of my childhood driving down dirt roads with my grandmother in search of fiddleheads and wild berry batches trained me to have hawk eyes for freegan opportunities. It was late September, and I could smell the ripe and rot of the small yellow pears in the yard and smashed on the sidewalk. There were still small green fruit dangling from the graceful, sweeping limbs. I didn't hesitate to walk right up to the front door to knock and ask if they didn't mind me harvesting enough fruit to fill the milk crate fixed onto the back of my bicycle.

The homeowner answered the door with a baby on her hip, and said to help myself since her family didn't know what to do with them. I left with at least 12 lbs. piled into my backpack and bike basket, and overwhelmed my family with fruit salads, smoothies, and other uncreative uses of the pear for the following week.

It was far more exciting to have come upon a pear tree than anything else I'd found in town. Perhaps what made it feel like a real treasure (did anyone else notice this bounty?) was how rare the pear stood among the countless apple trees that grow wild along the roadsides or neatly cultivated in orchards all over Vermont. The more I considered it the more I couldn't seem to understand why the pear- so closely related to the apple- seems to live in the pomological shadow of it's rounder, redder counterpart?

I've always been attracted to the underdog kind fruit crops that don't receive much attention from the public, or the forgotten heirloom varieties that our grandparents knew. At one point in time, as I read in the article by Jules Janick called The Pear in History, Literature, Popular Culture, and Art, the pear was just as prominent as the apple in Europe, Asia, and the New World, valued for its early spring blossoms, graceful tree form, long term storage qualities, and ability to make strong, sweet alcoholic beverages.  

Here's to the beginning of an attempt to pay tribute to a crop by trying to learn everything about putting it to use and managing it. The pear has, after all, appealed to the tongues, stomaches, livelihoods, and aesthetics of the human race for thousands of years.

Senior Project I: The Pear Throughout Culture, Cuisine, and Art

September 29, 2013: Sterling College's pear tree, unidentified variety

           In the spirit of Michael Pollan’s book, The Botany of Desire, I have been inspired to zoom in on one particular fruit and explore its relationship to the human race throughout time, while also tailoring a series of hands-on projects that would cover my need to be physically, sensuously, and philosophically engaged in a learning environment. There was no question as to which fruit to select that would stand up to seven months of analysis, appraisal, and experimentation; Pyrus communis, or the European pear.

My interest is not based solely on the aesthetic or culinary uses of the pear, but also of their unique biology and the professional opportunities associated with them as I dream of starting my own farm someday. I will divide the next two semesters into different areas of study, with SP I beginning with the culinary, artistic, and historical dimensions of the pear, and then immersing myself in learning more technical management skills during SP II.

My goals are as follows:

1.      Under the guidance of experienced faculty, farmers, and orchardists, acquire and practice technical skills involved in establishing and maintaining vigorous, productive European pear trees: selecting New England appropriate varieties, grafting, pruning, and applying integrated pest management methods.

2.      To produce a variety of handmade value added pear products that include 2 savory dishes, 3 desserts, one batch of pear mead, and one set of pearwood chopsticks. 

3.      To enrich my hands-on activities by reading printed and online articles and books on the pear throughout history, art, cooking, and culture, providing summaries and reflections on each in my blog.  

4.      To create, view, appraise, and critique mixed media featuring pears.

5.      To simultaneously contribute to the management of the fruit trees in the Edible Forest Garden while also honing my pruning skills.

The Sterling College campus and surrounding New England community provides ample opportunity for me to seek out experienced farmers, artists, chefs, brewers, writers, and woodcraftsmen to both learn under and troubleshoot with in my exploration of the pear. My plan is to meet with my advisors at least once a month to update them and discuss my progress, any difficulties I may be having, and if I need help finding more supporting resources for my learning goals.

                 Final Products of Study

-          Blog

-          Final picture portfolio of all SP I and SP II activities/projects, with written reflections on the learning process

-          Final self evaluation discussing the context of SP in my education at Sterling and success in meeting learning goals; what could have been done differently.

-          Presentation in the Senior Symposium during Spring Semester 2014

-          Completed still-life oil painting featuring pears

-          Two savory recipes

-          Three dessert recipes

-          One batch of pear mead, bottled

-          One set of handmade pearwood chopsticks

-          One poem inspired by pears

-          One skein of handspun wool dyed with pear bark and leaves

-          Two grafted fruit tree seedlings

-          Two interviews with New England farmers who grow pears

 How this project fits into my overall degree plan

What originally drew me to pursue a degree in sustainable agriculture at Sterling College was the multi-disciplinary approach that the curriculum offered. To me, a successful farmer has to be more than just a person who knows where and when to stick a seed in the ground; they should also be gastronomists, marketers, doctors, community organizers, scientists. I’m sure many get by just fine without pursuing those different facets; it’s just that I don’t imagine myself enjoying farming without a well-rounded, thoughtful approach to what I’m growing. Fluffy humanity courses with too much theory and not enough action are not my cup of tea, and then strictly technical courses lack depth and become meaningless for me if there isn’t a greater context to frame the skills with. I need both present for a worthwhile experience to occur.

There are some unfilled gaps in my agricultural education at Sterling where I have not had much class time devoted to learning about fruit production. Nevertheless, this is the opportunity for me to fill the gap on my own by taking principles, ideas, and practices from previous classes such as Plant Science, Ag Tech, Organic Crop Production, and Sudden Exposure- and merge them holistically into a series of projects and reflections that will keep me stimulated over the next seven months. Studying a fruit tree allows me to get outdoors, engaging my body, as well as retreat inside to exercise my higher mind. I’ll work independently and then alongside individuals who can help me go further than I could on my own.

 It will be mostly cold winter weather during the duration of the project, and luckily, most of the activities I will be pursuing are not limited by this factor and are in fact appropriate to the season.