Pear Trees for Perry

A perry pear is a pear grown for fermenting, with more acid and tannin than a dessert pear. The classic English perry pears (Barland, Moorcroft, Thorn and friends) aren't rated for zone 3 winters, so these are something different: hardy pears from Russian, Canadian and old American breeding that bring the sugar and acid good perry needs, rated for zones 2 to 4.

Larinskaya pear is the one with lab numbers: 13.8% soluble solids and 0.8% titratable acid in Russian lab analysis, plenty of acid for perry. It came from the South Ural Research Institute of Horticulture and Potato Growing, a Ussurian pear seedling crossed with Clapp's Favorite, and it came through winters near -45F in Bozeman unscathed. Krazulya pear is from the same South Ural program (bred by E. A. Falkenberg) and fruits through -40s winters in Bozeman. Ure pear is a Morden introduction from 1978, a Ussurian x European cross named for Frank Ure, and survived -46F in Fairbanks. Seckel pear is a chance seedling from Pennsylvania in the late 1700s, tiny and very sweet, and it's grown in the Bitterroot for decades with winter lows near -38F. Vekovaya pear rounds it out.

Juice numbers for every pear here except Larinskaya are expected values, not measurements, so measure your own. Pears carry sorbitol, a sugar alcohol yeast won't ferment, so perry finishes a little sweeter than its gravity suggests; our calculator allows for it: plan a perry blend. Most pears need a second pear blooming at the same time to set fruit; see our pear pollination map. For apples to blend in, see which apples make good cider, and for everything else worth fermenting, fruit for hard cider.