Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Sweet, succulent and refreshing—a ripe pear is a thing of beauty. Unripe pears, on the other hand, are not nearly as rewarding.

Here's everything you need to know to keep pears at their best.

Autumn brings a new harvest of pears to market. This luscious fruit is somewhat overlooked, but that wasn't always the case. In England, an estimated 700 varieties of pear were grown during the 18th ...

As ubiquitous as they are come fall, pears remain a bit of an enigma. Why are they so hard when you buy them? Why do they seemingly take forever to ripen? Why do they finally ripen exactly when you ...

Ripe Asian pears are in our markets now, but how do you tell if they’re ripe? Both ripe and unripe Asian pears are juicy, lightly sweet and crisp. The secret is that ripe ones soften a bit and their ...

Asian pears are ready to eat when purchased; European pears ripen after harvest. Check European pears for color changes, sweet aroma and soft flesh near the stem to spot ripeness. To speed ripening, ...