Comice

Comice, or Doyenne du Comice, is a French pear from the mid-1800s regarded by many as the finest-flavored dessert pear. The fruits are large, round, and squat with a short neck and greenish-yellow skin often blushed red and marked with russet. The flesh is exceptionally smooth, buttery, juicy, and sweet, considered the gold standard for eating fresh and famously featured in gift-basket fruit. Comice bruises easily and does not ship or handle as robustly as Bartlett, so it demands careful treatment. It is self-unfruitful and needs a pollinizer such as Bartlett or Bosc. The tree can be somewhat slow to bear and shy-cropping, but the outstanding quality of the fruit makes it a favorite of connoisseurs and premium markets.