Katie Herring is sales and marketing manager at Cultivate

AFTER discovering the joys of local pears for the first time last year I’ve been counting down the days until the season returns.

It seems this year it's been a bit trickier for us to get our hands on a local supply, but luckily with the help of a North Oxford home-grower, Ruth, we’ve bagged ourselves some local conference pears to offer up at all our weekly stops.

Conference tend to be slightly elongated with a green skin that, depending on the weather conditions, can have varying degrees of russeting.

What I discovered about this particular variety of pear is that it can be eaten at any stage of ripening: if you like your pears on the hard side, pick a slightly underripe conference.

These ones are also particularly good for cooking with as they’ll hold their shape better.

Pick a conference at the end of ripening and you can expect a softer, butter-like flesh and aromatic flavour perfect for eating with no prep required.

The transformation from hard to soft can be fairly rapid so I would recommend storing them somewhere cool until you are ready to use them.

The colour of the skin should give an indication of when they are at in the ripening process.

Generally, the lighter the shade of green, the riper it is.

Once the fruit turns light yellow it is almost fully ripe and really only fit for immediate consumption.

If in doubt give it a sniff – the riper pears tend to be more fragrant.

Our local conference pears will be featuring on the menu at Smoke and Thyme’s Locavore Harvest Feast evenings in October in the form of a stunning pear tart.

A crisp and sweet almond pastry topped with rich Crème Pâtissière and alternating slices of deep red and white poached pears, it’s really a sight to behold and scummy to eat of course.

If you can’t wait until October to try it, we’ve got the tart recipe with photos up on our website now.

If you’re taking on our #harvestchallenge then it’s a great way to create a locally sourced, seasonal dessert.