Oh man. Those Riviera pears from Harry and David are so good!! My dad used to get a box of those for Christmas, and we were all in heaven when they came!! They are so sweet and so juicy. A number of years ago, I ordered a box and they were great. Way too many for one person, so I had to share, but they were worth every penny!!

Love the H & D Rivieras too. Also like florelle pears - they are especially pretty.

Love the Riviera pears too. Remember getting them as a girl to our family from my mother's brother. If you can find them, try the Comice pears. Hope I spelled that right.

I read somewhere that the name Riviera is simply the name Harry and David uses when it sells Comice pears.

Bob is right.....'Riviera' is a Comice. But H&D have the right to trademark their pears because they've come up with a chilled ripening process that insures that their pears are the best that Comice can be. Comice, like many pears don't ripen on the tree....harvesting and ripening is a real science.

My favorite tree ripened pear is Seckle.

yep, Seckle. A friend of my grandmother had a tree and she would bring us bags and bags of them. SO good!!!

Ditto, Harry and David's Royal Riviera=Comice

Bosc is my favorite too. If you want to have something out of this world, find a recipe for French Wine Poached Pears. Use boscs for it. With vanilla and/or almond extract or alternatively a bit of cinnamon. It's a dessert that's unbelievably rich and luscious.

I used to like seckles too, but in recent years the quality of what I've seen in stores has been rather variable. It's an early season variety, that's good, i think the flavor and texture are similar to a bosc but not as good.

That sounds fabulous, Snidely.

Years ago I traded at a Japanese produce market, and the little old lady there told me, "The Bosc is the Cadillac of pears!" If so, the Cormice must be the Rolls Royce!

I'm a fan of pears. We grow them, and even after all these years I haven't quite nailed the science of when to pick them. Some years are better than others. Apples are easier.

Like Rhizo, I'm fond of Seckels. Small and sweet!

Susan, my entomology professor had great tips about pear harvesting. Seckles should be allowed to ripen on the tree as long as possible and are ready to eat when the stem end is slightly soft. It will have the 'give' of a ripe avocado.

Other pears can be ruined by allowing them to ripen on the tree and are best when picked while still too firm, but showing the proper color. At room temperature, they will develop their sugars without being rotten in the middle.

Thank you, Rhizo. Now all I have to do is convince my pear trees to be generous this year. Last year both the pears and the apples suffered a freeze in the fruit's infancy. It has happened several times over the past 10 years. Before that, we never heard of such a thing.