Pears belong to the Rosaceae family and are close “cousins” to the apple. They are a fruit that originated in southeastern Europe and were a favorite food of both the Romans and the Greeks. The ancient Greeks loved pears so much that they even nicknamed them “gifts from the gods.”

Likewise, the Romans were such big fans of pears that they developed over 50 different pear varieties and planted them all across Europe. In the U.S., the first pear tree was planted in 1620, and by the end of the 18th century, many European settlers in the U.S. had planted pear trees.

Now that everyone reading this today knows all about pears, they might want to observe National Pear Month. This month celebrates the pear and is perfect for everyone who has ever loved this fruit.

The History of National Pear Month

With many holidays and observance months, we’re unable to identify their exact origins. That’s understandable, considering many of them spontaneously spring up on the Internet. With National Pear Month, however, things are different. We actually know when this month was created. For those interested, it was created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2004.

Important Facts About Pears

Since most people love pears and we are talking about National Pear Month, we thought that we’d take a few moments to list some important facts about pears. Facts that we plucked off the internet and placed into the following list.

• In the world, there are over 3,000 different varieties of pears.
• The majority of pears sold in the U.S. are grown on the West Coast.
• One medium pear has about 100 calories.
• One medium pear has about 206 mg of potassium.
• Pears are a good source of vitamin C and deliver about 13% of the RDA of this nutrient.
• Although a pear will ripen on the tree, they ripen better when they’re off the tree.
• Pears were often called “Butter Fruits” because of their soft texture.

Observing National Pear Month

We think that the pear is an underrepresented fruit in the modern diet, so obviously, we feel like this month should be observed with plenty of pears. Pears can be used to make a variety of nice dishes, including Pear Pie, Bourbon Pear Pork Chops, Pear Upside Down Cake, Pear Oatmeal Muffins, and Pear and Bacon Goat Cheese Pizza.

We encourage everyone to try out one of those dishes or one of the other ones that can be found online. Whatever you decide to make using pears, just be sure to use the hashtag #NationalPearMonth to let us all know about it.