Pears.

fresh... That's the feeling I get when spring comes. Today is the first day of spring and the perfect time to share my love for fresh pears, especially the ones from asian supermarkets. I don't always eat the healthiest food (as seen in my previous Mcdonald's post), so its good to maintain fruit in my diet, in the form of pears! I decided to compare 3 types of juicy, tasty pears in the first ever PEAR BATTLE! From the pictures, the giant one is some "Korean super breed" that I bought from the Galleria korean supermarket (Yonge/Steeles). The one in the middle is a "Sugar Pear" from the Foody Mart Chinese supermarket (Bamburgh Circle, Warden/Steeles) and the final one is a chinese "XianJiang Pear" also from Foody Mart.
"The Pear Battle!"
1. The korean super pear was clearly the biggest, and also had a pear/apple hybrid flavour. It was definitely crisp, but I enjoyed the other ones better. My friend thought this was the best though (although he is Korean and has some serious Korean bias growing up with these giant super fruits.lol).
2. The second pear in show was the "Sugar Pear." This was the most typical of the three pears, as it had that typical pear shape with the fat bottom. The sugar pear was the least juicy of the three, but had the most flavour. It also had that typical grainy pear texture that you taste in things like pear nectar.
3. Finally, the last competitor in the "Pear Battle," was the Chinese "XianJiang Pear," which I have nicknamed the fob pear. I haven't really seen this pear in supermarkets till recently, but wow, this is one damn good pear. It has the perfect balance of flavour and intense water content. When you bite into these pears, it's like your in the Nestea Commercial where they all take the Nestea plunge into pools of water, its just that juicy!

Verdict: The "Korean Super Pear" ($1.29/lb), the "Sugar Pear" ($1.99/lb) and the "XianJiang Pear" ($0.99/lb) are all great choices when buying pears, but only one can be the winner. The winner is... the "XianJiang Pear," which offers a great balance of flavour, crispness, juiciness and value (all are qualities of chinese things.lol) at only $0.99/lbs (about 12 pears for 3 bucks). Picture of winner above in the middle of post.