Hello from Boston!

We’re having a great time exploring the city and sharing pear recipes and ripening info (not to mention delicious pears!) with fellow pear fans on The Time is Ripe for Pears Tour. Here’s a quick glance at what we’ve seen so far:

First stop: the Chelsea Market Basket, where we sampled perfectly ripe Starkrimson pears. They were a hit with shoppers of all ages!

Next, we went to Faneuil Hall, where we lunched on lobster rolls (and remarked that they would have been better with pears).

We also ventured out to Edward Everett Square in South Boston to snap a photo with this giant pear statue! Perry, our Anjou Pear, was quite happy to find a relative clear across the country.

Check out this video to see what shoppers thought of our sweet and juicy Starkrimson pears!

We also visited Rialto Restaurant and Bar, where we were treated to a delicious pear dish courtesy of Chef Jody Adams. This autumn salad will be featured on Rialto’s menu (although with apples), but you can re-create it in your kitchen, too!

Autumn Concorde Pear Salad with Crinkle Cress, Baylee Hazen Blue, Walnuts and Moscato Dressing

Ingredients
Moscato Vinaigrette
1 cup moscato vinegar
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
1 shallot, minced
3 cups olive oil
Salt and pepper
Salad
4 Concorde USA Pears
1 small celery root, peeled
2 each endive
1 cup fennel
2 cups crinkle cress
⅓ cup Baylee Hazen blue cheese
⅓ cup toasted walnuts
½ cup moscato vinaigrette
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
For vinaigrette: Whisk together the vinegar, mustard and shallot. Continue whisking and slowly pour in the oil. Season with salt and pepper.

For salad: Shave the pears, celery root and fennel on a mandoline. Slice the endive in half and cut each half in a quarter inch thick slices on bias. Crumble the blue cheese with your hands. Mix all with the remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper.

Don’t forget to join us on Facebook, where you can enter our sweepstakes to win fresh pears or a trip for two to one of our eight tour stops!