10 Unique Types Of Pears And How To Use Them

Facts

10 Unique Types Of Pears And How To Use Them By Liana Hornyak Oct. 5, 2025 3:19 pm EST

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It's hard to compete with America's most readily available fruit, but that's precisely what pears do when they go head-to-head with apples each year. Due to their similar growing conditions, harvest times, and nutritional benefits, the two fruits (which are close relatives, as they both belong to the Rosaceae family) are often coupled and compared. Given apples' ubiquity in autumn, pears are often seen as secondary — but they really shouldn't be.

It's true that pears are trickier to cultivate and transport than apples, and thus less widely grown and marketed in the U.S. Pears are also less uniform in shape, and many have a thin skin that easily bruises, which can d