Pere Klotzen dell'Alpe Adria
Alpe Adria Klozen Pears
Per Martin in Carnia, Klotzen or Doerrbirne in Carinthia, Tepka in the Slovene valleys over the border. It is probably not one variety at all but a population of mountain pears adapted to that frontier, mixing Pyrus nivalis, the snow pear, silvery from the down on its young leaves, with the bright-green-leaved common pear. The flowers are small and white, the fruit small and round.
Designation
- Certification
- Slow Food Presidium
- Category
- Fruit, vegetables and cereals, fresh or processed
Where it is made
the mountains where Friuli meets Carinthia and Slovenia
How it is made
The pears are inedible at harvest and have to be bletted: laid well apart in wooden crates in a dry dark room for about a month, until skin and flesh both go dark brown, the flesh staying firm and sweet as the tannin that made them astringent recedes. Adjusting the time and temperature lets them keep a long while, and they may then be dried, once over the tiled kitchen stove that held a steady heat, otherwise on trellises in purpose-built wooden driers.