Williams Christ

Williams Christ pears

Williams pear cut through the middle

As Williams Christ a is variety of pear ( Pyrus communis hereinafter). The fruit brandy obtained from it is also called that. The original name of the fruit is Bon-Chrétien Williams , in the USA and Canada it is called Bartlett .

history

The oldest records of the Williams Christ pear variety go back to around 1770 (England). The variety was named after its first distributor, the tree nursery Williams from London. The nickname Bon-Chrétien means "good Christian" in French. This should refer to the Saint Francis of Paola , who was the French King Louis XI. , called the wise, once offered pear seeds from his homeland Calabria , which were then whole on royal orders. Descendants of this variety are said to have arrived in England around 1770 and then distributed throughout Great Britain by the Williams tree nursery. In the middle of the 19th century, this variety was better known in Belgium than in England and was then distributed throughout Europe and in North and South America through the Belgian pomologist van Mons . In the 1920s, the Williams Christ was one of the three pear varieties that were chosen as imperial fruit varieties .

description

Drawing by Wilhelm Lauche

blossom

The tree grows to medium strength with a pyramidal, somewhat sparse crown structure. The leaves are large, the edge is slightly serrated and curved upwards. The flowering time is medium late. Even young trees bear fruit, the yield is regular and large. However, the tree is prone to scab and fire blight , and individual branches can freeze back in winter. The diploid variety needs a different variety for fertilization; Conference , Gellert's Butterbirne and Clapp's Liebling are suitable, the Gute Luise variety is not suitable .

The fruit is large (up to 10 cm long and weighs 180 g) and squat, pear-shaped. Parthenocarp fruits, which are occasionally formed, are smaller and cylindrical in shape. The skin is yellow-green in color, tinged with orange on the sunny side. The lenticels are clearly visible, the fruit around the calyx is rusty. The flesh is yellow-white, melting, with a good, intense aroma. The fruit ripens in late August to early September. It can be stored for around two weeks, or up to three months in a cold store.

use

Bottle of Williams Christ fruit brandy. The deep label hides the seam in the bottle, the pear has not grown into it, but is brought into the bottle when it is ripe.

The pear in this fruit brandy from Međimurje , Croatia has grown into the bottle.

The Williams Christ variety is used as dessert fruit, as a preserve, as well as for the production of fruit brandy and liqueur. The special sign of some of the mostly 40% spirits is a bottle that contains a pear. The process was developed by the Germanier family from Valais . To get the pear into the bottle, they put bottles over the small fruits after the pear tree blossomed. The pears grew to full size in the bottle by autumn. But since only a third of the pears develop well, some manufacturers choose the cheaper alternative of cutting open the bottle at the bottom, adding a ripe pear and sticking the bottom back on. Since the interface is clearly visible, it is often covered with a label.

literature

Franz Jahn , Eduard Lucas , Johann Oberdieck : Illustrirtes Handbuch der Obstkunde. Volume 2: pears. Ebner & Seubert, Stuttgart 1860, No. 191, pp. 405-406 .

supporting documents

Walter Hartmann (Ed.): Color Atlas of Old Fruit Types. 2nd, heavily revised edition. Ulmer, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-8001-4394-1 , p. 228.
Manfred Fischer (Ed.): Color Atlas of Fruit Types. 2nd, heavily revised edition. Ulmer, Stuttgart, 2003, ISBN 3-8001-5547-8 , p. 117.

Web links

Commons : Williams (pear) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Wiktionary: Williams Christ - Explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Index card of the variety in the BUND-Lemgo fruit variety database