Grand Soleil
PearGrand Soleil
Origin/History
Introduced by Major Esperen, of Malines (Belgium). Thomas confirms the Belgian origin.
Tree
Vigorous and productive. Elliott further describes the habit as erect and well-formed. Young wood dull dark yellow brown (Downing).
Fruit
Size and Form: Downing and Elliott describe the fruit as medium; Thomas describes it as rather small. Form is roundish pyriform (Downing), roundish (Elliott), or roundish-obovate, irregular, and varying (Thomas).
Stem: Medium length. Elliott notes it is swollen at the base. Set in a small cavity (Downing).
Calyx: Small. Downing describes it as nearly closed; Elliott and Thomas describe it as closed.
Basin: Abrupt, deep, a little furrowed (Downing). Not described by Elliott or Thomas.
Skin: Downing describes the ground color as pale yellow, mostly covered with cinnamon russet and fawn, with a red cheek in the sun and many russet dots. Elliott describes the ground as orange yellow, with a russety red blush and few russet specks — conflicting with Downing on both the base color (pale yellow vs. orange yellow) and the quantity of russet specking (many vs. few). Thomas describes the fruit as mostly covered with a rich russet, with no mention of a ground color.
Flesh and Flavor: Whitish (Downing) or yellowish white (Elliott, Thomas). A little coarse (all sources). Downing describes the flesh as juicy, half melting, sugary, and slightly vinous. Elliott and Thomas describe it as buttery, melting, sugary, and aromatic — differing from Downing in calling it fully melting rather than half melting, and aromatic rather than vinous. Thomas adds "very rich." Quality rated very good (Downing, Elliott); Elliott adds nearly best.
Core and Seeds: Core large; seeds obovate (Elliott). Not described by Downing or Thomas.
Season
October–November (Downing); November (Elliott); November–December (Thomas).
Uses
Not described in source.
Subtypes/Variants
Not described in source.
Other
Not described in source.
Book Sources
Described in 3 period pomological works
View original book sources (3)
— A.J. Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1900)Grand Soleil.
Introduced by Major Esperen, of Malines. Tree vigorous and productive. Young wood dull dark yellow brown.
Fruit medium, roundish pyriform, pale yellow, mostly covered with cinnamon russet and fawn, and a red cheek in sun, many russet dots. Stalk medium, in a small cavity. Calyx small, nearly closed. Basin abrupt, deep, a little furrowed. Flesh whitish, a little coarse, juicy, half melting, sugary, slightly vinous. Very good. October, November.
— F.R. Elliott, The Western Fruit Book (1865)Grand Soleil.
Foreign. Tree, vigorous, erect, well-formed, productive. Fruit, medium, roundish, orange yellow, with a russety red blush, few russet specks ; stem, medium, swollen at base ; calyx, small, closed ; core, large ; seeds, obovate ; flesh, yellowish white, little coarse, buttery, melting, sugary, aromatic ; "very good," nearly "best." November.
— John J. Thomas, The American Fruit Culturist (1903)Grand Soleil. Rather small, roundish-obovate, irregular, and varying, mostly covered with a rich russet ; calyx small, closed ; flesh yellowish-white, a little coarse, buttery, melting, aromatic, very rich. November and December. Belgian.