Deer pear
The Hirschbirne is an old Styrian variety of the pear , whose current distribution area still largely coincides with the historical one. This is in Eastern Styria with a focus on the Pöllau Valley .
description
tree
Contrary to previous assumptions, the deer pear does not come from the wild pear ( Pyrus pyraster ), but from the rare snow pear ( Pyrus × nivalis Jacq.). The trees can reach heights of up to 16 meters and an age of up to 200 years. The first yields can be expected after 12.5 years; adult trees produce around 600 kg in the full harvest years.
fruit
The fruits are bergamot-shaped and wider than they are long (mean 50.4 × 53.9 mm; stem length 28.9 mm). The skin has a yellowish-green base color and a cloudy red top color, which is completely absent when ripe. The calyx and stalk indentations are often rusted in small spots , the shell has reddish-colored lenticels . The open calyx with very hairy sepals is characteristic . The large black-brown seeds as well as the open axis and a distinctive stone ring around the core are typical. The mean fruit weight is 80.5 g, but varies between approx. 100 g over 350 m and approx. 60 g over 1,000 m. The fruit ripeness varies between the last days of September and October 20, depending on the altitude and year. The relatively late point in time also gave its name, deer has nothing to do with the animal, but comes from the word autumn ( Hiascht ). As far as is known, their phenol content is higher than all other Austrian cider pear varieties. In the past, the fruits were mostly eaten as dried pears ( Kletzen ), but today they are used as juice and brandy .
Tourist use
Since the stately orchards that are planted as scattered fruit have a defining impact on the landscape, the Pöllauer Tal Nature Park began to market the deer pear as a regional specialty in the 1990s . The deer pear is included in the Ark of Taste at Slow Food . Since April 14, 2015, Pöllauer Hirschbirne PDO has been allowed to use the EU protection of origin "protected designation of origin".
literature
- Alois Wilfling: The Pöllauer Hirschbirne - EU protection of origin for the preservation of an old fruit variety. In: How many species do humans need? A search for traces (= Green Series of the Ministry of Life. Vol. 22). Böhlau, Vienna et al. 2010, ISBN 978-3-205-78516-3 , pp. 230-233.
- Lotte Gutmann, Gerhard Politschnig: The pear. An East Styrian search for traces. ARGE Region Kultur, Horn 1995.
Web links
- Pöllauer Hirschbirne . Entry no. 21 in the register of traditional foods of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Regions and Tourism .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Entry in the Ark of Taste ( Memento of the original from December 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Pöllauer Hirschbirne awarded EU protection of origin | steirische-spezialitaeten.at
