These Don't Turn Brown When You Slice Them

Have you ever heard of an “Apple Pear” before?  I hadn’t but I really enjoy apples and pears so when I saw apple pears on display at the grocery store today I decided to pick up a few.  Hey it’s always fun to try new things … so when I saw something I’d never seen before figured why not give it a try. 

After we got home from the store, my wife and I put away the groceries and put together lunch for the family.  I cut up some slices of the apples pears for my kids and bit a chunk out of another one for myself.  My first impression – TASTY!  The fruit has the texture of an apple but the flavor of a pear. 

Then I looked at my kids’ plates and noticed something; while it looked like they had apples on their plate the slices hadn’t turned brown.  Don’t you hate it how apple slices tend to quickly turn a disgusting brownish color after you’ve sliced them up.  Didn’t happen with these apple pear slices.  After my kids finished up their chicken nuggets they quickly gobbled up their fruit and my daughter remarked to me “hey dad these apples didn’t turn brown!!!” Success!!!

I was wondering if these apple pears were a new genetically modified fruit since I had never heard of them before so I googled them and found the website for the farm that had produced the ones we’d purchased: KINGSBURG ORCHARDS.  Turns out that these fruit are a unique type of pear that originated in Asia and have been grown in California since the Gold Rush days when Chinese immigrants brought them from overseas and planted them in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains.  It appears though that the fruit is just starting to be commercially distributed to consumers in areas of the country outside the West Coast. It was nice to see on the package of the ones we bought that they were grown in the USA!

The Kingsburg Orchards website describes the Apple Pear as having the “appearance of an apple” with a “refreshing pear flavor.”  Their website also mentioned the browning issue that I had noticed at lunch time:

The Apple Pear has a wide range of uses.  They are a fantastic back to school item because they don’t turn brown like your typical apple.  They are quite possibly the perfect fruit for your perfect little one.  Its sweet flavor and crunchy texture make it a perfect healthy addition to any lunchbox.  Apple Pears also make an elegant solution at a dinner party or watch them disappear during a football game.  Either way, Apple Pears are sure to excite your guests’ taste buds.

Wow, you just never what new things you’ll discover on any given day!  This really was a nice discovery to enjoy on a nice spring day.  If you haven’t tried out an Apple Pear before keep an eye out for them in your produce section and give them a shot.  I’ll absolutely be picking up some more again for our family to enjoy!

If you have a moment check out this interesting video, I found on the Kingsburg Orchards website that show the process of the fruit going from the farm to the supermarket:

DISCLAIMER:  I have NO association with Kingsburg Orchards and had never heard of them or apple pears until I recently discovered this fruit at the grocery store.  The opinions in this post are my own and based entirely on my appreciation of the product.