Sanguinole
PearSanguinole
Origin / History
An ancient pear of unknown origin (Downing). Known for several centuries, and still occasionally met with in orchards of cider fruit (Bunyard). According to Claude Mollet, 1810, it was imported to France from Switzerland; it was known in Germany in 1500 (Hedrick). Downing: "As an amateur curiosity it is only desirable." Hedrick: "This old pear is of consequence only on account of the color of its flesh."
Tree
Growth vigorous, little spreading; fertility great. Leaf long oval, finely serrate, held nearly flat, undulating.
Fruit
Size: Small to medium; below medium or small. Bunyard gives 2 by 1¾.
Form: Roundish, round conical, even; Hedrick describes it as variable in form, turbinate-obtuse or globular, bossed.
Stem: Very long, slender (Bunyard).
Cavity: Slight (Bunyard).
Calyx: Eye wide open (Bunyard).
Basin: Level; the eye is on a level (Bunyard).
Skin: Rather thick and rough. Ground pale yellow (Downing) or green (Hedrick), sprinkled with streaks and patches of russet (Hedrick); Bunyard gives bronzed russet with slight red cheek. Brownish in the sun (Downing); sometimes slightly carmined on the face exposed to the sun (Hedrick).
Dots: Irregular-shaped, brown, with specks (Downing); gray and red (Hedrick).
Flesh and flavor: Flesh white, tinged with red (Downing); transparent, red (Hedrick); wine red (Bunyard). Texture juicy, melting (Downing); semi-fine, semi-breaking, juicy (Hedrick); firm, gritty (Bunyard). Flavor slightly sweet (Bunyard); saccharine, acidulous, more or less musky, agreeable (Hedrick). Quality "Good" (Downing); "second, sometimes third" (Hedrick). The flesh decomposes rapidly (Hedrick).
Core and seeds: Not described in source.
Season
August to September (Bunyard, Hedrick); September (Downing).
Uses
Culinary (Bunyard).
Subtypes / Variants
Not described in source.
Other
Bunyard notes several varieties of pears with this curious "beetroot coloured" flesh, of which drawings may be seen in Decaisne's "Jardin Fruitier," vol. VI, plates 13 and 14.
Book Sources
Described in 3 period pomological works
View original book sources (3)
— A.J. Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1900)Sanguinole.
Sanguine d'Italie. Bloody. Grenade.
An ancient Pear, of unknown origin. As an amateur curiosity it is only desirable.
Fruit small to medium. Form roundish, pale yellow, brownish in sun, with irregular-shaped brown dots and specks. Flesh white, tinged with red, juicy, melting. Good. September.
— E.A. Bunyard, A Handbook of Hardy Fruits (1920)SANGUINOLE. Her. Pom., II., 34. (De Sauge, Grenarde.) Culinary, August to September, small, 2 by 1¾, round conical, even. Skin, rough. Colour, bronzed russet with slight red cheek. Flesh, firm, wine red, gritty, slightly sweet. Eye, wide open on a level. Stem, very long, slender, in a slight cavity. Growth, vigorous, little spreading; fertility great. Leaf, long oval, finely serrate, held nearly flat, undulating. Origin, this has been known for several centuries and is still occasionally met with in orchards of cider fruit. There are several varieties of pears with this curious beetroot coloured flesh, of which drawings may be seen in Decaisne's "Jardin Fruitier," vol. VI., plates 13 and 14.
— U.P. Hedrick, The Pears of New York (1921)Sanguinole.
- Downing Fr. Trees Am. 851. 1869. 2. Bunyard Handb. Hardy Fr. 197. 1920. Sanguine de France. 3. Leroy Diet. Pom. 2:645, fig. 1869.
This old pear is of consequence only on account of the color of its flesh. According to Claude Mollet, 1810, it was imported to France from Switzerland. It was known in Germany in 1500. Fruit below medium or small, variable in form, turbinate-obtuse, or globular, bossed; skin rather thick and rough, green dotted with gray and red, sprinkled with streaks and patches of russet, and sometimes slightly carmined on the face exposed to the sun; flesh transparent, red, semi-fine, semi-breaking, juicy, saccharine, acidulous, more or less musky, agreeable; second, sometimes third, the flesh decomposing rapidly; Aug. and Sept.