With all the pear (and some apple) trees in the Perry Vale area of Forest Hill, has there ever been a movement to do something with the crops?
Every year I see rotten fruit lying around - could this be a project for local gardening groups, or foodie types?
(Or am I living in fantasy land? Is the fruit unusable?)
Elizabeth
From what I have read Perry Vale got its name from a long time ago due to hundreds of pear trees growing in the area. Perry is another version of Peary
Perry Vale is not the only place in the Forest Hill area that has/had fruit trees. There are still quite a lot of apple and pear trees in the Honor Oak Road area, on the hill that used to have a forest on it.
We have a very large, and very old pear tree in our Perry Vale garden.
This year the parakeets failed to destroy the fruit, so we collected a ridiculous amount of fruit (30kg+) and used it to make everything from pear vodka to jams, chutneys, cakes and more. The trouble with large trees is that you have to get a climbing harness and rope out to reach the fruit
We had plans to make perry, even going as far as visiting and chatting with perry makers in Herefordshire. Sadly the remaining fruit turned before we could use it.
The Abundance group at the Mayow Park community garden also seem interested in the fruit. That seems like a good project.
My issue is - I would have no idea how to harvest the fruit. Maybe this could be a school project for some school?
Like Fandango I also have a very large and very old pear tree in my garden off Brockley Rise. The tree seems to have good years and bad years: this was a good one with loads of fruit, but most of it would have needed a scaffolding tower to access it.
The pears seem to have a very short shelf life: they go off very quickly so you need to eat, cook, bottle or ferment them fast.
Pears in brandy is probably the easiest, if expensive, way to preserve them!
No parakeet attacks as yet, just an increasing colony of squirrels that destroy the small fruit.
Interested to hear about your ideas about making some perry: it was once a very popular drink in these parts, hence Perry Rise, Perry Rise and Pearfield Road.