Bartlett Pears, also known as Williams Pears, are a popular variety of pear in Ontario. They have a slightly mottled bright green skin that ripens into yellow and a creamy white flesh. They are slightly sweet, earthy flavoured tree fruit. Bartlett Pears are typically ready for harvest in Ontario in late summer and into the fall. During the winter and spring, they are grown closer to the equator.
Bartlett Pears can be enjoyed both eaten fresh or cooked. They hold their shape well when heated, so they can be poached, baked, and added into desserts and salads. They can be dried, canned, and frozen for longer storage and use in the off-season months.
Pears have been cultivated in cool and temperate climates since antiquity and cannot be traced to a single origin. They have been farmed in China since 2,000 BC. There are thousands of varieties that ground around the world today, but the Bartlett Pear is thought to have originated from either France or England, and was imported into the United States in 1799 by James Carter. They were planted on the grounds of Thomas Brewer in Roxbury, Massachusetts, which was later bought by Enoch Bartlett of Dorchester, Massachusetts, who named them after himself.
