While the pears are cooking in the preserving pan, order shrubs and fruit trees for planting in winter. Popular varieties always sell out quickly and the demand for heritage apple trees has outstripped supply in recent years, so it pays to get in early.
An excellent cooking apple, also suitable for eating, is Peasgood Nonsuch, a 19th-century English variety that does extremely well in the South. The huge apples can weigh up to 500g each and, when cooked, melt down to a fluffy puree.
Also recommended is Reinette du Canada, one of the oldest heritage cookers, which was known in France before 1771. It is a very late-season variety that stores well.
Even older is a very early cooking apple, White Astrachan, that originated in Russia or Sweden in the 1740s. Dunedin reader Margaret Newton has one which her grandfather planted on his St Clair property more than 80 years ago. It still fruits well and regularly is a winner for Mrs Newton at horticultural shows. White Astrachan is ripe by February but its drawback is that it is a poor keeper and needs to be used as soon as possible after picking.
When it comes to pears, almost all could be called heritage, as most of the familiar names are of European varieties that date back centuries. For example, Doyenne du Comice was bred in France in 1849; Winter Nelis (1818) and Beurre Bosc (1807) in Belgium; while Conference (1894) and Williams Bon Chretien (1700) are English.
Slightly later on the scene was the Australian Packham's Triumph (1896), good for bottling or eating fresh.
If you prefer a modern pear, go for Taylor's Gold, a sport (natural mutation) of Doyenne du Comice that was discovered in New Zealand. Given its parentage, it needs a more sheltered spot than most pears but its rich yellow skin and excellent flavour makes it one to keep in mind when planning this season's purchases.
