Various varieties of pears.

When you think about how you’ll use your own harvested pears, keep in mind that some pears are more suited for specific uses:

• Dessert pears: For fresh eating; some European and Asian pears are in this category.
• Culinary pears: For cooking; these pears don’t ripen to that soft stage that makes for good fresh eating.
• Dual pears: For eating or cooking; these pears give you more options.

There are a lot of different ways to use pears; we’ll give you a broad sampling of pears that are good for fresh eating, cooking, baking, making preserves, and more in our Plant Profiles section. But that’s still just a sampling of what’s available. Your local extension center will have insight on the ideal pear trees for you based on your garden space and your cooking/canning/eating preferences.

Do you grow different varieties of pears? Which ones do you grow? Please tell us how you use your pear harvest.