Best Red Pear type(large version)?

[Douglas14]

This year I grew a variety called Coure di Bue. It was a medium to large, red pear shaped tomato, with some ribbing. There seem to be a number of different tomatoes that are red, pear-shaped and ribbed out there, such as Franchi Red Pear, Cuneo Giant Pear, Goldman's Italian American, and a few other's that I don't currently recall the names of. I'm wondering if there is much difference in quality of these different varieties, and if so, can anyone here can recommend one they liked particularly well.?
I should add that I found Coure di Bue to be quite good in flavor. It had good production, of bright red(no green shoulders) fruit, with no cracking that I recall.

[KarenO]

hmm the tomato I know as coure di bue is a heart shaped red Italian heirloom. Mine has yellow shoulders that turned red when fully ripe. wispy weak stemmed viney plant with regular foliage.
I'll see if I can find a picture

[KarenO]

this is the one I know as Cour di bue. Seed I have came from a commercial packet bought in Lebanon and brought back for me as a gift by a friend.

[Douglas14]

If you type in coure di bue in the Yahoo search and click images, you'll see some that are pear shaped, like the ones I grew.

[KarenO]

cuore di bue. now I see. different spelling. And a very different tomato for certain. As to your origional question, I am looking forward to growing cuneo giant pear this year that I ordered from Tania. The only other Pear shaped tomato I have grown previously is japanese triefle black which does very well up here and has been a favorite of mine for some time.
Looking forward to spring...seems such a long way off.
Karen

[Wi-sunflower]

I've grown several of the large pear varieties and I have seeds for several.

But the only one I actually remember is Goldman's. It can get quite large but somewhat ugly and it does tend to have green shoulders.

I also have Ella's Pink Plum. It is smaller than Goldman's. About large roma size +-.

There is also Tlacolula (or tlacula) a productive pink very ribbed variety said to be native to Mexico. I'm not sure of the correct spelling as I've seen it both ways.

And Yugoslavian, which looks rather like a slightly smaller version of Goldman's.

I've grown them all and these are my own pics. But the Goldman's was the only variety that actually left an impression. Probably because Hubby is always talking about her book.

Carol

[carolyn137]

OK, I have to confess that I'm rather confused here. The ones with big bottoms, and there are many of them, usually are from Italy and Spain and of course elsewhere and bue can be that or Bui and it can be Curore, which indicates italian origin or cuore, which indicates usually a spanish origin.

The big bottomed ones are the morphological reverse of the heart shaped ones which taper down at the bottom while the former taper at the top.

When I have time I'll try to find the link here, anyone can actually, that lists so many of the big bottomed ones. A key word to use might be Liguria and a good search at Tania's website will bring up many more.

Some are pink and some are red, and some folks as well as SSE listings, get them mixed up terribly.

Finally, the Goldman one was a selection from an original F1 hybrid, and who else but the Italians would breed F1 hybrid big bottom ones.

So I think the jmain point I'm trying to make Doug, is that you'rfe NOT tgalkikng about a true heart variety. Right?

[doublehelix]

The cool thing about heirloom tomatoes is that they come in all sorts of shapes and colors.

I have yet to find a pear shaped heirloom tomato that I like more than a heart, but here are a few that I found interesting enough to grow.

http://doublehelixfarms.com/100-pounds

http://doublehelixfarms.com/Cartago-Pear

http://doublehelixfarms.com/aladins-lamp

[Douglas14]

Correct Carolyn. I'm looking at the pear types that seem to be more well known in Italy. Another variety that would be in that category is Ernie's Plump.

[frogsleap farm]

Beduin has a nice pear shape, it's not a paste type - and it's pretty tasty. It has a tendency to split though.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Douglas14

Correct Carolyn. I'm looking at the pear types that seem to be more well known in Italy. Another variety that would be in that category is Ernie's Plump.

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.ph...hlight=liguria

Doug, here's the thread which started in 2009 that has to do with big bottomed ones, aka upside down hearts, if you will, it's very long but I know you and anyone else interested in these will definitely find it very helpful.

It's the thread I referred to in my post above and I guess no one else looked for it so I did.

Carolyn

[Douglas14]

Thanks for that thread Carolyn. Very interesting and helpful. The main reason for me starting this thread, was to see if it would be worthwhile to grow a few of these pear-shaped varieties, to see if there is any appreciable difference in the quality of these similar types. I'm leaning towards doing this next year.

[FILMNET]

Franchi Red Pear for me for sure! every year for the 3 last summers

[livinonfaith]

The only two pear shaped ones I've grown are Black Trifele and Yellow Trifele (which, oddly enough, was actually a neon orange for me.)

Both were very good, fantastic keepers, with very good flavor. Neither of them were very large, though. They only grew to the 2-4 oz. size for me, but I plan to grow them both again this year as they have done well where others fail.

Probably not the larger, type you are looking for, but fun to grow and tasty.

[lakelady]

Originally Posted by FILMNET

Franchi Red Pear for me for sure! every year for the 3 last summers

I grew the Franchi Red Pear last year too based on Filmnet's recommendation, and can vouch that it was a terrific all purpose tomato and quite productive. Started mid season, but late season it went gangbusters. pm me if you'd like seed as I do have enough to share.