Mansuette

Origin/History

A very old variety, described as early as 1660 and regarded at that time — as later — as one of the best cooking pears (Downing). Origin is unknown (Hedrick). Hedrick cites descriptions going back to Duhamel's Traité des Arbres Fruitiers (1768), and the variety also appears in Christ (1817) and Hogg (1884), where it is indexed under the synonym Solitaire. Leroy's Dictionnaire de Pomologie (1867) and Downing (1869) further treat the closely related Angobert name; Hedrick, however, separates Angobert as a distinct entry, while Downing lists it among Mansuette's synonyms. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, 1780–83, Henri Manger claimed to have identified the Angobert with the Signina or Testacea of Columella and Pliny.

Tree

Not described in sources.

Fruit

Size and Form

Sources are not in full agreement on form. Downing describes the fruit as large or very large, irregular, and obtuse pyriform. Thomas similarly calls it large, but characterizes the shape as short pyriform. Hedrick's Mansuette entry describes it as large, long-obovate, irregular, and obtuse — in apparent conflict with Thomas's "short pyriform." The Angobert entry in Hedrick (treated by Downing as a synonym, but listed separately by Hedrick) describes the fruit as very large, variable but generally obovate-pyriform, distorted, and enlarged around the calyx end.

Stem

Not described in sources.

Cavity

Not described in sources.

Calyx

Not described in sources.

Basin

Not described in sources.

Skin

Downing and Thomas agree on a greenish-yellow ground color. Hedrick's Mansuette entry refines this to pale green, spotted with brown and much covered with the same color on the shaded side, and tinged with red on the side exposed to the sun. The Angobert entry in Hedrick describes the skin differently: dull yellow, dotted and streaked with fawn, washed with red on the side of the sun.

Flesh and Flavor

Hedrick's Mansuette entry describes the flesh as white, semi-melting, moderately fine, inclined to grow soft, juicy, pleasantly acid, and well flavored. Downing similarly calls it half melting and juicy, but characterizes the flavor as somewhat astringent, a point reinforced by Thomas (juicy, astringent). These characterizations — pleasantly acid versus astringent — represent a mild divergence between Hedrick on one hand and Downing and Thomas on the other.

The Angobert entry in Hedrick (grouped here per Downing's synonym treatment) provides a noticeably different flesh description: white, coarse, juicy, and sweet, with a rather agreeable after-flavor of musk — markedly different from the acid or astringent character given for Mansuette. This discrepancy supports Hedrick's decision to treat Angobert as a separate variety rather than a synonym.

Core and Seeds

Not described in sources.

Season

September (Downing, Thomas). Hedrick extends the season slightly: September and October.

Uses

Downing describes Mansuette as a cooking pear, a characterization echoed by Thomas (baking). Hedrick's Mansuette entry, however, classes it as a dessert pear. The Angobert entry in Hedrick rates it third for the table but first for the kitchen, aligning more closely with Downing's cooking assessment.

Subtypes/Variants

Not described in sources.

Other

The synonymy surrounding this variety is extensive and historically contested. Downing lists the following as synonyms: Angobert, Gros Angobert, Beurre de Semur, Dagobert, Solitaire, De Sainte Catherine, Double Mansuette, and A. Gobert. Hedrick, by contrast, treats Angobert as a separate variety with its own entry, citing Leroy (1867), Downing (1869), and Duhamel (1768) under that heading. The considerable differences in flesh character, color, and culinary use between Hedrick's Mansuette and Angobert descriptions suggest these may indeed be distinct varieties that were conflated in earlier literature.