Traditionally at Stemilt, harvest of the Tosca variety signals the start of pear harvesting season. “We started harvesting this variety last week,” says Brianna Shales with Stemilt. Bloom arrived early and as a result, harvest of all varieties will come about 10 days ahead of normal in 2016. “It has been a great growing year for pears,” added Shales. “Summer has been very mild, which has been great for pear sizing and color. This year’s crop looks very clean and will store well. Pear size seems to be trending larger this season.”
Tosca, the earliest variety, is available exclusively from Stemilt until the end of September. It is a specialty variety that is mostly grown organically. At the end of this week, the company expects to start harvest of Bartlett and red summer pear varieties like Starkrimson. Bartlett is traditionally available into January. Harvest of winter varieties such as D’Anjou and Bosc will start in September and wrap up in October.
Lil Snappers
Stemilt’s kids size fruit program, Lil Snappers, has been expanded on the pear side. In addition to a full line of organics packed in 2lb. bags, Tosca and Concorde varieties are now also included in the product line. For more information:
Brianna Shales
Stemilt
Tel: 509-662-9667