Perfect for both sweet and savory recipes. Used by Sal De Riso for his famous ricotta and pear cake.
Origin
In the town of Agerola – bordering Furore and surrounded by the Lattari mountains, right at the point where the Amalfi coast and Sorrento peninsula meet – there are some truly unique products to be found. Among these is the pennata pear. It resembles an apple, and has a soft, sweet flavor. It comes from a robust tree cultivated in family-run fruit and vegetable farms.
September is harvest time, when the ripe pears are a bright yellow-green. They have very sweet, dense and highly fragrant flesh and thick skins. This prized variety is associated with rural life and farming, and its rarity has led several local organizations to seek PGI (protected geographical indication) status for it. This would ensure better prices and more profitable production.
Cookit
The pennata pear is very sweet, with a thick, fragrant skin. It works well in both sweet and savory dishes. It’s perfect with cured meats and cheeses from the city of Agerola, like provolone del monaco, ricotta, pancetta and capocollo. These pears make lovely, delicately flavored preserves, and are even used in making flavor extracts for baking. They’re also famously used by Sal De Riso in his ricotta and pear cake, along with other one-of-a-kind ingredients like Tramonti ricotta and Giffoni hazelnuts.
Did you know
Why are they called “pennata” pears? In the past, when there were a lot of growers and stalls, pears were piled up and left to ripen in tall storage structures. These were known as “pennatone” which is where the name comes from. It may also have to do with the fact that the pear trees were so tall that they reached the same height as those structures. Imperfect pears were fed to the pigs along with apples, to enhance the taste of their meat.
