Echasserie

Echasserie

Origin / History

A French pear, native to Anjou, where three places bear the name given to it. The wilding from which this variety was derived was probably noticed about 1660, and La Quintinye, writing before 1690, spoke of it as having been in French gardens for twenty years at that time. It appears to have been locally cultivated under other names for a long time before its official recognition. Documented references include Duhamel's Traité des Arbres Fruitiers (1768), the American Pomological Society Report (1856), Leroy's Dictionnaire de Pomologie (1867), and Downing's Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1869).

Tree

Described by Coxe as very handsome, fruitful, and an early bearer. Downing concurs that it is productive. No further tree characteristics described in sources.

Fruit

Size and Form

Medium in size (Coxe, Downing); Hedrick qualifies this as medium to small. Form is oval (Coxe) to roundish oval (Downing); Hedrick describes it as globular-oval but variable, always obtuse and bossed. Coxe notes the fruit is diminished towards the stalk, with the blossom end very round.

Stem

The stalk is large (Coxe). Not further described in other sources.

Cavity

Not described in sources.

Calyx

The eye is not sunk (Coxe). Not described in other sources.

Basin

Not described in sources.

Skin

Sources differ on color and texture. Coxe describes the skin as light yellow, inclining to white. Downing describes it as smooth, pale green, becoming yellowish at maturity, and slightly dotted with gray. Hedrick describes the skin as rough to the touch — conflicting with Downing's "smooth" — lemon-yellow in ground color, dotted with fawn, with some patches of grayish-brown russet.

Flesh and Flavor

Flesh is melting, buttery, and fine (Coxe, Downing); white and fine, melting, with very small grits around the core (Hedrick). The juice is described as sweet, musky, and very pleasant (Coxe); sweet with a perfumed flavor (Downing); and extremely abundant, acidulous, saccharine, with an aftertaste of musk, very agreeable (Hedrick). Coxe and Downing emphasize sweetness; Hedrick characterizes the juice as acidulous as well as saccharine.

Core and Seeds

Very small grits around the core (Hedrick). Not further described in other sources.

Season

Sources disagree on ripening season. Coxe gives November to February; Hedrick gives November through January; Downing gives January to April.

Uses

Coxe calls it an excellent pear. Downing rates it as second quality. Hedrick classifies it as "first" (referring to ripening season grouping, not quality rank).

Subtypes / Variants

Not described in sources.

Other

Not described in sources.