"New Pear" Asian Pear Gift Box

The newest variety, the aptly named New Pear offers a subtle array of flavors. If eaten with the skin, this pear awakens your palate like a summery sangria or pinot grigio. Peeled, you will detect hints of citrus mingled with the mellowness of golden raisins. New Pear looks as if it came from an artist’s palette. Its skin is a rich banana-yellow with luminous undertones of lemon sorbet, making it the most eye-catching variety in our orchards. As a final flourish, this flawlessly round pear is dotted with tiny caramel-brown lenticels.

Joel Spira, a successful inventor, first tasted Asian Pears during a business trip in the 1970s and was so enchanted he carried home the seeds for his wife, Ruth Rodale Spira, a botanist, to plant in their backyard, starting this legendary pear farm. Grown by Subarashii Kudamono (“Wonderful Fruit” in Japanese) in Kempton, Pennsylvania, the orchard’s sumo-sized Asian pears are admired for their super crisp taste and firmness — not to mention their large size.