Winter Rousselet
Pear
Origin/History
An ancient French pear of unknown origin. It was described by Claude Saintfitienne in 1670 and by Duhamel in the eighteenth century, and appeared in Mawe and Abercrombie's Universal Gardener and Botanist in 1778 under the name Rousselet d'Hiver. Leroy figures it in his Dictionnaire de Pomologie (2:593) in 1869. It was known and grown in America at least by the early nineteenth century, when Coxe described it in 1817.
Tree
An abundant bearer (Coxe). Other characteristics not described in source.
Fruit
Size: Small.
Form: Turbinate (Hedrick), of regular shape (Coxe), more or less obtuse, usually somewhat contracted toward the top, and often depressed on one side and mammillate on the other (Hedrick). Coxe describes the shape as gradually diminishing toward the stem.
Stem, Cavity, Calyx, Basin, Core, Seeds: Not described in source.
Skin: Hedrick describes the color as yellow-green dotted with gray russet and blushed with reddish-brown on the face exposed to the sun. Coxe describes the skin as a lively russet, comparing it to a Golden Pippin.
Flesh/Flavor: The two sources conflict on flesh color: Coxe gives it as yellow; Hedrick gives it as white. Hedrick describes the texture as semi-breaking, watery, and rather granular, with juice abundant and saccharine, but rarely having much aroma and sometimes acid. Coxe describes the flesh as rich and sprightly, but rather too firm for a table fruit. Hedrick rates the quality as second.
Season
February and March (Hedrick). The "Winter" designation and Coxe's characterization as a fine keeping pear are consistent with this late season.
Uses
Excellent for baking and stewing; a fine keeping pear (Coxe). Not well suited to eating fresh due to firmness of flesh (Coxe).
Subtypes/Variants
Not described in source.
Other
Not described in source.
Book Sources
Described in 2 period pomological works
View original book sources (2)
— William Coxe, A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees (1817)
- WINTER RUSSELET.
Is a small pear, of regular shape, gradually diminishing towards the stem : the skin is a lively russet like a Golden Pippin—the flesh is yellow, rich, and sprightly, rather too firm for a table fruit, but excellent for baking and stewing ; it is a fine keeping pear, and an abundant bearer.
— U.P. Hedrick, The Pears of New York (1921)Winter Rousselet. i. Mawe-Abercrombie Univ. Card. Bot. 1778. Rousselet d'Hiver. 3. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:593, fig. 1869. An ancient French pear of unknown origin, though it was described by Claude Saintfitienne in 1670 and by Duhamel in the eighteenth century. Fruit small, turbinate, more or less obtuse, usually somewhat contracted toward the top, and often depressed on one side and mammillate on the other, yellow-green dotted with gray russet and blushed with reddish-brown on the face exposed to the sun; flesh white, semi-breaking, watery, rather granular, juice abundant, saccharine, rarely having much aroma and sometimes acid; second; Feb. and Mar.