Keep unripe pears on the counter for a few days; store ripened pears in the fridge and they can last up to a couple weeks (depending on ripeness). Keep away from leafy greens and other fruit you don't want to ripen as they produce ethelyne.

Bosc pears have an interesting, and as yet, not completely resolved history. It remains a matter of contention whether Bosc are of Belgium or French origin. What is known is that Bosc Pears were discovered sometime in the early 1800's. At that time, the European convention for naming pears was to use a two-name system, where the first name identified a characteristic of the fruit, and the second name referenced its origin or propagator.

Bosc, however, are known in various parts of the world by several names. Beurré Bosc identifies the fruit as "buttery" and named after M. Bosc who was the director of the Paris Botanical Garden. Calabasse Bosc is another name, and references the fruit as "gourd-shaped". Then there is the name Beurré d'Appremont, where the variety is named for a French town.

Some believe that Buerré Bosc was first raised from a seed about 1807 in Belgium by Mr. M. Bosc. Others contend that Buerré d'Appremont were discovered about 1830 as a very old seedling tree in the city of Appremont, France.

Today, Bosc are also called Kaiser Alexander in some countries.

Here in the United States, the history of Bosc Pears is more certain. The variety was first planted in 1832 or 1833, and those trees first bore fruit in 1836. The first plantings were done in the eastern U.S., on large estate orchards and later commercial orchards. Now Bosc are grown largely in the Northwest, as the trees were found to thrive best in the soil and climate of the Pacific Northwest states of Oregon and Washington.