User:Mh853/sandbox

My original paragraph:

Pear cultivars used for perry-making tend to be small in size, turbinate or pyriform in shape, and too astringent for culinary utilization. While most apple cultivars contain all the qualities necessary to produce a good cider, pears tend to rarely possess all the desired elements. It is therefore much more difficult to find a “good” perry pear, and producers often use multiple pear cultivars to create a well-balanced perry product. Some of the pears considered to produce consistently excellent perry include the Barland, Brandy, Thorn, and Yellow Huffcap cultivars. Good perry pears have higher concentrations of tannins, acids, and other phenolic compounds, allowing for the production of a more balanced perry. Compared to cider apples, perry pears have fewer volatile components and consequently fewer aromatics in the finished product. They do, however, contain a high concentration of deca-2,4-dienoate, a group of esters that affords them their prominent pear aroma. Another important attribute of perry pears that distinguishes them from cider apples is their relatively higher content ratio of sorbitol to other sugars, such as fructose. Because sorbitol is not readily fermented by yeast, it is not converted to ethanol, and perry therefore tends to be sweeter than cider produced from the fermentation of apples. In addition to producing a sweeter beverage, sorbitol also contributes to increased body and a softer mouthfeel in the finished perry. Compared to apples, pear pressing is made much more difficult by the additional presence of specialized cells known as sclereids, which have thick cell walls that provide extra support and strength to the pear tissue. Because of this inherent perry pear attribute, the addition of enzymes and pressing aids is a commonly used practice for improving perry production.

My edited paragraph:

Pear cultivars used for perry-making tend to be small in size, turbinate or pyriform in shape, and too astringent for culinary utilization. While most apple cultivars contain all the qualities necessary to produce a good cider, pears rarely possess all the desired elements. It is therefore much more difficult to find a “good” perry pear, and so producers often use multiple cultivars to create a well-balanced perry product. Good perry pears should have higher concentrations of tannins, acids, and other phenolic compounds. Some of the pears considered to produce consistently excellent perry include the Barland, Brandy, Thorn, and Yellow Huffcap cultivars. Compared to cider apples, perry pears have fewer volatile components and consequently fewer aromatics in the finished product. They do, however, contain a high concentration of deca-2,4-dienoate, a group of esters that affords them their prominent pear aroma. Another important attribute of perry pears that distinguishes them from cider apples is their relatively higher content ratio of sorbitol to other sugars, such as fructose. Because sorbitol is not readily fermented by yeast, it is not converted to ethanol, and perry therefore tends to have more residual sugar than cider produced from the fermentation of apples. In addition to producing a sweeter beverage, sorbitol also contributes to increased body and a softer mouthfeel in the finished perry. Compared to apples, pear pressing is made more difficult by the additional presence of specialized cells known as sclereids, which have thick cell walls that provide extra support and strength to the pear tissue. Because of this inherent perry pear attribute, the addition of enzymes and pressing aids is a commonly used practice for improving perry production.

My and my partner's collaborative edits to the current section on perry fruit:

Perry pears are thought to be descended from wild hybrids, known as wildings, between the cultivated pear Pyrus communis subsp. communis and the now-rare wild pear pyrus communis subsp''. pyraster . The cultivated pear p. communis'' was brought to northern Europe by the Romans. The first record of pears used for perry dates around the fourth century CE by Saint Gerome, who referred to perry as piracium. These pears were picked from the wild, and over time farmers identified their regional pears that they preferred for perry making. In the 1800s, researchers identified and categorized these regional pears into specific varieties, which are still used to this day.

The majority of perry pear varieties in the UK originate from the counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire in the west of England. Of these, most originate in parishes around May Hill on the Gloucestershire/Herefordshire border. The standard reference work on these varieties of pear was published in 1963 by the Long Ashton Research Station; since then many varieties have become critically endangered or lost. There were over 100 varieties, known by over 200 local names, in Gloucestershire alone. Perry pears were particularly known for their picturesque names, such as the various Huffcap varieties (Hendre Huffcap, Red Huffcap, Black Huffcap, all having an elliptical shape), those named for the effects of their product (Merrylegs, Mumblehead), pears commemorating an individual (Stinking Bishop, named for the man who first grew it, or Judge Amphlett, named for Assizes court judge Richard Amphlett), or those named for the place they grew (Hartpury Green, Bosbury Scarlet, Bartestree Squash). In the UK the most commonly used variety is the Blakeney Red.

As with cider apples, special pear cultivars are used to make Perry. Pear cultivars used for perry-making tend to be small in size, turbinate or pyriform in shape, and too astringent for culinary utilization. While most apple cultivars contain all the qualities necessary to produce a good cider, pears rarely possess all the desired elements. It is therefore much more difficult to find a “good” perry pear, and so producers often use multiple cultivars to create a well-balanced perry product. Good perry pears should have higher concentrations of tannins, acids, and other phenolic compounds. Some of the pears considered to produce consistently excellent perry include the Barland, Brandy, Thorn, and Yellow Huffcap cultivars. Compared to cider apples, perry pears have fewer volatile components and consequently fewer aromatics in the finished product. They do, however, contain a high concentration of deca-2,4-dienoate, a group of esters that affords them their prominent pear aroma. Another important attribute of perry pears that distinguishes them from cider apples is their relatively higher content ratio of sorbitol to other sugars, such as fructose. Because sorbitol is not readily fermented by yeast, it is not converted to ethanol, and perry therefore tends to have more residual sugar than cider produced from the fermentation of apples. In addition to producing a sweeter beverage, sorbitol also contributes to increased body and a softer mouthfeel in the finished perry. Compared to apples, pear pressing is made more difficult by the additional presence of specialized cells known as sclereids, which have thick cell walls that provide extra support and strength to the pear tissue. Because of this inherent perry pear attribute, the addition of enzymes and pressing aids is a commonly used practice for improving perry production.

Cultivation of pears has become more modernized, but is a difficult crop to grow. Perry pear trees can live to a great age, and can be fully productive for 250 years. Pear trees, both domestic and perry varieties, grow incredibly slow, taking up to, if not over, a decade before they bear enough fruit for harvest. They also grow to a considerable height and can have very large canopies; the largest recorded, a tree at Holme Lacy which still partly survives, covered three quarters of an acre and yielded a crop of 5–7 tons in 1790. Considering how long it takes for pear trees to grow and mature enough to produce harvestable crops, they can be difficult to manage against diseases. Their size makes it difficult to apply pesticides, which makes preventing fire blight, a disease caused by the bacterium erwinia amylovora that pears are even more susceptible to than cider apples, quite challening. These difficulties, along with demand for perry pears having (until recently) taken a decline, have prompted a national collection of perry pear cultivars to be gathered, housed, and cared for at the Three Counties Agricultural Showground at Malvern in Worcestershire, UK to maintain genetic resources, which has now become the National Perry Pear Centre. Similar germplasm repositories can be found at the National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis, Oregon.