Sunday, September 16, 2007

nashi

Nashi (pears) are in season now. I never realized it, but there are many different varieties of pears in Japan. Here are just a few:

There are the "red" pears, these have reddish-brownish skins.
Hosui, the chinese characters mean lots of water. These pears are juicy, but not too sweet. I used a grated piece of this to make bulgogi the other day. It gave the bulgogi a sweeter flavor than when I used grated apple.

Kosui, the chinese characters mean happiness water. The Kosui looks like the Hosui and are juicy and very sweet.

And pears with green skins. Nijuseiki, which means 20th century.

Usually the skins are quite tough and bitter, which helps protect the fruit inside, so I peel the skins off before we eat them.

Satoshi and I agree that out of the three, the Kosui was the most sweet. Asian pears seem to be a little watery or juicier than the European types.

With most of the other parts of the world jumping into Autumn, Summer is dragging its self along here, which makes Autumn in Japan rather short these days, still, it brings different foods...I can't wait!

7 comments:

Amrita said...

hey!

Nashi pears beat regular ol' pears any day! :)

K and S said...

I'm glad you think so too, Amrita.

Thanks for stopping by and take care.
Kat

Anonymous said...

I looooove nashi pears so much! They are much much more juicy than other varieties, and I love their apple-like crunch! We like adding them to meat marinates because it adds sweetness, but also helps tenderize the meat :)

Anonymous said...

You know if I saw those in the store I'd think they were apples! Thanks for introducing us to these pears!

K and S said...

I've used the nashi to marinade my bulgogi, Ellie, it was so tender.

I'm glad I've introduced something new to you Ivonne.

Take care you two.
kat

Parisbreakfasts said...

I remember those!
Such a different texture and round as apples...
YUM

K and S said...

Yes Carol, round as apples and very juicy!

Take care.
Kat