To pare a perfect pear.

There is nothing quite like the perfect pear. Of all the fruit, surely the pear is king amongst all of them. Some might argue the durian is better. That choice comes from mainly the southern hemisphere. I remember a long arduous sea voyage where many Indians had taken with them enough durians to last them all the way to Freemantle. People, especially the 10 quid poms almost jumped ship well before landfall. Of course, even the smell of soap can make some poms feel sick.

Anyway, back to the pear. The flesh is grainy and unlike most fruit, it has a luscious sheen, a certain gloss that the apple for instance lacks. While the verb ‘to pare’ can be applied to some other things, I believe that the usage applied to the pear is what it was meant for.  Verbs are ‘doing’ words and the paring of a pear conjures up mum with a long perfect unbroken pear peel in the kitchen of food and eating pleasure. The peel was not only unbroken but it still had spring to it and was curled up as if wanting to get back onto its host. Too late for that though. The glistening fruit, dripping with juice was eaten, core and all, but not the stem.

And so….partake to peel and pare of the pleasing portion of a plump ripe pear!

Lehan and others; here the etching I did after seeing a pear picture on a poster, somewhere, many years ago.