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Kind of related: in former Eastern Germany they bred all kinds of new Pear varieties. Pears are a little more finicky than apples and the fruit bruise more eas

Kind of related: in former Eastern Germany they bred all kinds of new Pear varieties. Pears are a little more finicky than apples and the fruit bruise more easily. Furthermore a lot of the varieties will go bad really quickly, so you basically have to eat them from the tree. Because of those reasons there are just one or two varieties available in stores and there is not a lot of commercial interest in Pears. With the end of the GDR, also came the end of Pear breeding and there are barely any new breeds in the last 30 years. To end on an Apple related note: my favorite GDR breed is the „Schweizer Orange“, „Swiss Orange“. Which is so ironic because there was no access to Switzerland nor good Oranges.

genocidicbunny 4y ago
Serendipitous seeing this mentioned here after my father very recently mentioned how much he missed the variety of pears that he could get when he went on komandirovkas to the GDR.
- sidewndr46 4y ago
  I don't understand "komandirovkas" in this context. Was he a Warsaw pact or Soviet intelligence agent working in the GDR? Or was he West German but traveled to East Germany for one reason or another?
  - genocidicbunny 4y ago
    No much simpler than that. On-site work effectively, but more centrally-driven and controlled.
6177c40f 4y ago
I hope some of those trees are still around somewhere waiting for someone to find them.
- leipert 4y ago
  Ah yeah, there are still cultivars of the old breeds, but the problem is that without new breeds being created, we are not combatting the challenges of climate change and diseases changing.
_a_a_a_ 4y ago
As you seem to know something about this, what's an apple/pear hybrid like? I assume they do hybridise. How about pear/quince? That should be an interesting one.
- seszett 4y ago
  They don't hybridise as far as I know, or don't give anything long-lived. An interesting hybrid though is x Sorbopyrus, a cross between a pear and sorb tree.
  - _a_a_a_ 4y ago
    Never heard of it so for others https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipova Can't cross with an apple but can with a whitebeam, I wouldn't have believed it. Amazing, thanks.
  - nkurz 4y ago
    There are some apple-pear hybrids that produce fruit. Development work seems ongoing in Germany. Unfortunately for me as (mostly) an English speaker, most of the papers describing it are in German. Here's a summary of an abstract in English, though: https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=US201400169583 https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=US2014.... If you search for the primary author plus some keywords (Thilo Fischer Apfel Birne) you can find articles that give more details. I'm guessing the Sorbopyrus you are describing is the Shipova: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipova. It's a surprisingly old hybrid. I've got one growing, but haven't gotten any fruit yet. Have you eaten it?
    - seszett 4y ago
      I have never eaten it, but it's at the top of my list of trees to grow once I have enough space for it.
- leipert 4y ago
  Not that knowledgeable. We just wanted to plant a pear tree when our kid was born. The tree seller was very chatty and knowledgeable. You also need to plant pears in pairs in order for them to pollinate each other. There are tables with which varieties go well with each other.
ranit 4y ago
> Swiss Orange“. Which is so ironic because there was no access to Switzerland nor good Oranges. Perhaps this is what made it desirable.
- leipert 4y ago
  It’s a pretty good Apple as well. Very crisp and more fresh-sour after harvest and becomes more sweet when stored for a few weeks. And I stand corrected, it actually is Swiss and was created in 1935: https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweizer_Orangenapfel https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweizer_Orangenapfel
  - twic 4y ago
    More information here for those of us who are teutonically challenged: https://pomiferous.com/applebyname/schweitzer-orangenapfel-id-5798 https://pomiferous.com/applebyname/schweitzer-orangenapfel-i...
twic 4y ago
Fascinating! I went to look for more information about this, and didn't find anything at all, but did find this charming and interesting piece about German pear varieties from long before the descent of the Iron Curtain: https://cider-review.com/2021/09/20/pyrus-a-personal-voyage/ https://cider-review.com/2021/09/20/pyrus-a-personal-voyage/
dieselgate 4y ago
Interesting, thanks for the information especially on Eastern Germany. I'm not super familiar with many apple/pear varieties but worked as quality control for a pear packaging factory for a summer. The fruit are basically picked hard and processed/packaged the same day. The most common defects are punctures from the short stems and then maybe bruising. I think most defective pears are then used for canning or similar products. They do ripen really quick and turn from hard green to yellow/brown in a few days. A perfect pear is so good..

genocidicbunny 4y ago

Serendipitous seeing this mentioned here after my father very recently mentioned how much he missed the variety of pears that he could get when he went on komandirovkas to the GDR.

sidewndr46 4y ago
I don't understand "komandirovkas" in this context. Was he a Warsaw pact or Soviet intelligence agent working in the GDR? Or was he West German but traveled to East Germany for one reason or another?
- genocidicbunny 4y ago
  No much simpler than that. On-site work effectively, but more centrally-driven and controlled.

6177c40f 4y ago

I hope some of those trees are still around somewhere waiting for someone to find them.

leipert 4y ago
Ah yeah, there are still cultivars of the old breeds, but the problem is that without new breeds being created, we are not combatting the challenges of climate change and diseases changing.

_a_a_a_ 4y ago

As you seem to know something about this, what's an apple/pear hybrid like? I assume they do hybridise. How about pear/quince? That should be an interesting one.

seszett 4y ago
They don't hybridise as far as I know, or don't give anything long-lived. An interesting hybrid though is x Sorbopyrus, a cross between a pear and sorb tree.
- _a_a_a_ 4y ago
  Never heard of it so for others https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipova Can't cross with an apple but can with a whitebeam, I wouldn't have believed it. Amazing, thanks.
- nkurz 4y ago
  There are some apple-pear hybrids that produce fruit. Development work seems ongoing in Germany. Unfortunately for me as (mostly) an English speaker, most of the papers describing it are in German. Here's a summary of an abstract in English, though: https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=US201400169583 https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=US2014.... If you search for the primary author plus some keywords (Thilo Fischer Apfel Birne) you can find articles that give more details. I'm guessing the Sorbopyrus you are describing is the Shipova: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipova. It's a surprisingly old hybrid. I've got one growing, but haven't gotten any fruit yet. Have you eaten it?
  - seszett 4y ago
    I have never eaten it, but it's at the top of my list of trees to grow once I have enough space for it.
leipert 4y ago
Not that knowledgeable. We just wanted to plant a pear tree when our kid was born. The tree seller was very chatty and knowledgeable. You also need to plant pears in pairs in order for them to pollinate each other. There are tables with which varieties go well with each other.

ranit 4y ago

> Swiss Orange“. Which is so ironic because there was no access to Switzerland nor good Oranges. Perhaps this is what made it desirable.

leipert 4y ago
It’s a pretty good Apple as well. Very crisp and more fresh-sour after harvest and becomes more sweet when stored for a few weeks. And I stand corrected, it actually is Swiss and was created in 1935: https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweizer_Orangenapfel https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweizer_Orangenapfel
- twic 4y ago
  More information here for those of us who are teutonically challenged: https://pomiferous.com/applebyname/schweitzer-orangenapfel-id-5798 https://pomiferous.com/applebyname/schweitzer-orangenapfel-i...

twic 4y ago

Fascinating! I went to look for more information about this, and didn't find anything at all, but did find this charming and interesting piece about German pear varieties from long before the descent of the Iron Curtain: https://cider-review.com/2021/09/20/pyrus-a-personal-voyage/ https://cider-review.com/2021/09/20/pyrus-a-personal-voyage/

dieselgate 4y ago

Interesting, thanks for the information especially on Eastern Germany. I'm not super familiar with many apple/pear varieties but worked as quality control for a pear packaging factory for a summer. The fruit are basically picked hard and processed/packaged the same day. The most common defects are punctures from the short stems and then maybe bruising. I think most defective pears are then used for canning or similar products. They do ripen really quick and turn from hard green to yellow/brown in a few days. A perfect pear is so good..