Vintage Virginia Apples

WHITE DOYENNE is an extraordinary variety which originated in 1550. The White Doyenné pear was called the St. Michael's pear in the Boston area in the 19th century, when this variety was considered one of the best for eating, though difficult to cultivate. As pears became increasingly a commercial product, this variety disappeared, along with many others of the more than 120 that Hedrick describes as having grown in New York and the Northeastern United States in the nineteenth century. The Great Book of Pears, by Barbara Jeanne Flores, describes this variety as one of the author’s favorite pears. She introduces her book with "In Search of the White Doyenné: I picked up a small yellow pear shaped like a little turban that yielded slightly to my touch. The bag read ‘White Doyenné.’ I bit into it. It melted in my mouth. The taste was more like a fine, rich buttery chardonnay than any pear I had tasted. Like wine, it was sweet yet tart, with musky undertones and a strong perfume. Never in my life had I tasted fruit like that! I had eaten good juicy peaches from a Georgia fruit stand and wonderful mangos on a stick in Mexico, but nothing like this."

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