All about pears

Apples and Pears: Close Cousins in the Fruit Family

Botanically speaking, apples and pears are closely related. They are both pome fruits that belong to the rose family. Pears tend to contain more sugar than apples, but they’re still just as healthy. Around half of the pears grown in Switzerland are eaten fresh. The rest are juiced, distilled or dried. Dried pears are popular in a traditional Swiss pastry dish.

percentage in apple juice

In Switzerland, apple juice traditionally has a little pear juice added to it as well to make it taste sweeter. The Swiss Federal Department of Home Affairs officially stipulates how much pear juice can be added. There can only be a maximum of 10% pear juice in any apple juice.

Pear varieties

Pears are no different from apples in that lots of different varieties grow in Switzerland. All these varieties combined with clever storage mean that pears are available from the start of August until spring. There’s also a distinction between pears for eating and pears for juice-making. Pears account for around 15% of all the frui harvested to make juice.