Wild pear & wild apple
Pyrus caucasica(?)
Other names: Wild pear & wild apple
Edible plantPhoto credit: Keith Weller
Safety information
Safety information
Toxicity: Fruit flesh: none known. Seeds/pips contain cyanogenic amygdalin — do not eat large quantities of crushed pips (as in all Rosaceae pome/stone seeds).
Contraindications: None well established for the fruit.
Interactions: None documented; high-fibre/sorbitol wild pears can be mildly laxative in quantity.
Evidence level
Reported in folk medicine sources; not clinically validated. Folk and historical sources have not been validated by clinical research.
Preparations
edible-raw · fruit
Part used: fruit
Traditional use: eaten when softened(Folk and historical sources have not been validated by clinical research.)
cooked · fruit
Part used: fruit
Traditional use: tklapi/leather, preserves, sour sauces, dried(Folk and historical sources have not been validated by clinical research.)
beverage (fermented) · fruit
Part used: fruit
Traditional use: fermented; folk astringent/digestive use of sour fruit(Folk and historical sources have not been validated by clinical research.)
Associated conditions
Edibility
Edible parts: ripe/softened fruit raw or cooked; discard the core/pips
Toxic lookalike warning
Wild pears/apples are recognisable pomes, but confirm the tree and never crush and eat the pips; avoid confusion with inedible wild pomes and unknown fruits.
Nutritional notes
Vitamin C, fibre (pectin), potassium and polyphenols; wild forms often higher in polyphenols/tannins than cultivars — functional fruit.
Healing traditions
Sources (2)
- Bussmann et al., A comparative ethnobotany ... Republic of Georgia, J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 2016;12:43
- Bussmann et al., Unity in diversity — food plants of Sakartvelo, 2021