Ripening, Harvest Timing and Storage

This guide covers the physiology behind those rules, so they make sense rather than having to be memorized, and then works through each fruit in the catalog that has a timing trap.

1. Why fruit ripens differently

Fruits divide into two physiological groups, and knowing which one a fruit belongs to explains nearly every rule on this page.

For a non-climacteric fruit the rule is simple: leave it on the tree until it is ripe. For a climacteric fruit the question is when to pick relative to the ethylene burst, and that is where the cultivar differences below come from.

2. Medlars must be bletted

A medlar straight off the tree is hard, astringent and inedible. It has to soften after harvest until the flesh turns brown and jam-like, at which point it tastes of apple butter and spiced dried fruit.

This is not rot and it is not a fault. Bletting is enzymatic softening: cell walls break down, starches convert to sugars, and the tannins that cause astringency polymerize and lose their grip. It is how the fruit has always been eaten, and medlars are the fruit most often binned by a first-time grower who thinks they have spoiled.

Pick late October into November, while still hard. Hold at cool room temperature, stalk up, not touching, until the fruit gives under the thumb and the flesh is brown throughout. Two to four weeks is typical. A medlar that is brown and soft but not moldy is ready; one that is moldy has gone past.

Our medlars: Breda Giant, and the rest of the collection.

3. American persimmons: wait for the drop

American persimmons are astringent until fully soft-ripe. Frost is not needed; softness is the test. Eaten early they are legendarily mouth-puckering, which is why most people who say they dislike persimmons have simply eaten one too soon.

The astringency comes from soluble tannins. As the fruit softens they become insoluble and can no longer bind to proteins in the mouth, and the puckering disappears. The fruit is ready when it drops from the tree, or when the skin wrinkles and the flesh has the texture of jam. Then it is among the richest fruits you can grow this far north: brown sugar, dates, apricot jam.

The hybrid persimmons are different. Rosseyanka, Sophie's Gift and UKR-MP-3 ripen in October without frost; like American persimmons, eat them only when fully soft.

4. European pears ripen off the tree, not on it

This is the single most useful thing to know about pears. Left to ripen on the branch, a European pear softens from the core outward, so the center turns mealy and brown before the outside is ready. Picked firm and finished indoors, the same fruit turns buttery.

Pick when the fruit parts from the spur with a gentle upward lift, while still hard. Many cultivars ripen more evenly if chilled for a few days to a few weeks first; then bring them to room temperature and check daily at the neck, which softens first. Bartlett, Rousselet de Reims, Stuttgarter Gaishirtle and Sucrée de Montluçon all want this treatment.

Asian pears are the exception. Tsu Li and the rest are harvested ripe from the tree and do not need finishing.

5. Apples that improve in storage

Some apples are poor at harvest and excellent in February. As the fruit sits, acids decline and starches convert to sugar, so a variety that is sharp in October becomes balanced by midwinter. Judging these off the tree is how good varieties get a bad reputation.

6. Apples that will not keep

The other half of the same rule. These want using as they come.

• Geneva Early and other July apples: days to a week
• Wolf River: a month or two, and the texture goes spongy. Pick slightly underripe, because fruit left hanging tends to rot
• Red Gravenstein: weeks, not months, and it ripens in uneven flushes, so pick it over several passes
• Duchess of Oldenburg: use or process within weeks
• Edelborsdorfer keeps two to three months but loses the aromatics that make it worth growing

7. Quince

Most quinces are too hard and astringent to eat raw and are cooked, where they turn pink to deep red and develop a perfume nothing else matches. Aromatnaya and Ekmek are among the rare exceptions that can be eaten fresh off the tree. Quince stores well for two to three months, but keep it away from apples: its scent transfers.

8. Che

Che is non-climacteric in practice and must be left on the tree until fully ripe. Picked early it is bland and faintly rubbery, which is why the fruit has a poor reputation among people who have tried it once. Wait until it is soft and deeply colored.

9. Pawpaw

Pawpaws are climacteric and ripen fast once they start. Pick when the fruit yields to gentle pressure like a ripe peach and parts easily from the stem. They keep only two or three days at room temperature, a week or so refrigerated, which is why they are rarely seen in grocery stores: if you are eating one, someone probably grew it nearby.

10. Storing for the winter