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The October 18, 2000 edition of the New York Times ran the following article:

Asian Pears, Grown in Bags,
Are Plump With Sweet Nectar

      Good fruit deserves a little pampering. Once the blossoms fall off the Asian pear trees at Umpqua Organic Farm in Roseburg, Ore., each tiny budding fruit is enclosed in a two-ply paper bag imported from China. The bags keep the skin tender and uniform in color and prevent insect damage as the fruit matures on the tree. The pears are picked at their peak, then nestled in boxes with form-fitting foam liners for shipping.
     The special care is worth it. Unlike Asian pears in produce markets, which often have dry flesh, Umpqua's drip sweet nectar when cut. Of the more than 100 kinds of Asian pears, the farm grows four: Shinseiki, Shinko, 20th Century and Large Korean. They're sold from October through December in boxes of nine and are $21.95 plus shipping for seven pounds, or $19.95 plus shipping for five pounds of smaller pears. Not every variety is always available. To order: (541) 673-3223, 
0r www.umpqua-organic-farm.com.


Here's what the October 2000 issue of Town & Country Magazine published.

  

Order Some





 

 

Karl Rubenberger says he simply doesn't know of any other commercial orchard that pampers its pears the way he does. At his Umpqua Organic Farm, along Oregon's Umpqua River, Rubenberger grows four varieties of large, crispy Asian pears, following traditional Japanese methods: Each emerging fruit is enclosed within a paper bag and grows in its own protected micro-environment until it's ready to be handpicked and packed directly in it's shipping box. The results are picture-perfect and perfectly delicious - whether it's a Large Korean (intensely sweet), a 20th Century (evoking butterscotch), a Shinko (rendolent of wine), or a Shinseiki (the most delicately flavored of the four). A seven-pound box of nine pears costs $21.95, plus shipping. To order (September through mid-November), call 541-673-3223; www.umpqua-organic-farm.com 
KRIS WETHERBEE


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