Avocado is different from pear

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KRB 11 years ago

Many of us came to Europe/North America to learn the difference between avocado and pear. Here, we stopped calling that fruit we have in Ghana "paya" or, more commonly, "peya". We call it correctly avocado and use pear for wh ...
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Many of us came to Europe/North America to learn the difference between avocado and pear. Here, we stopped calling that fruit we have in Ghana "paya" or, more commonly, "peya". We call it correctly avocado and use pear for what pear is. The point is that they don't make that mistake here. They know the difference.

What is called avocado here is mostly imported from Israel (not a tropical climate) and South America. They are tiny things that nobody will eat in Ghana or that Ghanaian children will play ball with. But I guess it is the variant of that fruit. They don't import avocado from Ghana (huge and wonderful) here and most Europeans will be surprised at the size of our "paya". They don't also eat it the way we do - definitely not with bread or groundnuts. They may split it open and scoop out the edible part with a spoon. I can't imagine Ghanaians doing that because a good Ghanaian avocado can be split open and peeled like a mature banana...

Pear is really a different thing. I saw it in books only in Ghana. These days, globalization has enabled non-tropical fruits to be freely available in Ghana. But Europeans have long been importing tropical fruits into their countries and have, of late, been growing some of these in green houses. Can we also grow temperate and Mediterranean fruits in green houses in Ghana?

But for me, the most interesting part of your piece is where you (twice) referred to pear as an "exotic" fruit. I think you're right there but the European will find this description very strange and may even think it is incorrect. You see, it is not because, to the European, pear is not exotic but because to him, the exotic is something that is non-European and comes from some strange land far away from the European "centre". They don't think of the exotic simply as non-native. So they are allowed to describe our things as exotic but we are not allowed to describe theirs as such.

But you're very right, Teacher Idris. If avocado, mangoes and guava are exotic fruits in Europe, pear, apples, and peaches are exotic items in Ghana and much of Africa.

I really wish you'll come here and discuss your own articles. You don't have to respond to people who insult you.
Find a name for it in your language 11 years ago

They have the same shape, the only difference being some species of guava are tart and have plenty of seeds.

They have the same shape, the only difference being some species of guava are tart and have plenty of seeds.
kabokabo 11 years ago

I met my wife (a white German woman) at Begoro when I was a pear(paya) seller. She broght me to Germany for sometime I missed my pear(paya) so I added PEAR on our shoping list. She went alone and came back with another fruit ...
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I met my wife (a white German woman) at Begoro when I was a pear(paya) seller. She broght me to Germany for sometime I missed my pear(paya) so I added PEAR on our shoping list. She went alone and came back with another fruit with much hair on it and having much seed in it. She served me with it as I requested for on our shopping list. I couldnt eat.I thought she couldnt find pear(paya) so again l added it on out list. She came back with same hairy, seedy fruit. then l exclaimed l need PAYA! The one l was selling when you met me then she said oh thats not Pear but avocado!!!!!
Anana 11 years ago

Thanks for bringing these differences to our notice.

Thanks for bringing these differences to our notice.
Vuvuzela 11 years ago

Which part of Ghana do you hail from?

I find it utterly surprising that you'd say you saw pears ONLY in books in Ghana. And what's surprising about it? Pears were all over and plenty.

Maybe this fruit might not be readi ...
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Which part of Ghana do you hail from?

I find it utterly surprising that you'd say you saw pears ONLY in books in Ghana. And what's surprising about it? Pears were all over and plenty.

Maybe this fruit might not be readily available in Ghana now but Pears were available everywhere.
They were sold in Kumasi, Takorari and Accra Newtown Markets, in fact, everywhere and people didn't love to buy them. You probably didn't pay attention to them as was the common behavior towards fruits. Personally, I never bought fruits anywhere in Ghana in times preceding 90s, when I left. The reason was, why should I buy fruits I can get for free at home?

I am from Volta. Pears were available everywhere. I can confidently say, in the 80s or even 70s when I was a kid, we had it everywhere around our village. We didn't take serious interest in them, as we didn't in other fruits because of their abundance. Public awareness was never made concerning fruits; we just didn't care about them. It is the same for Avocado.

We even had two Avocado trees in our yard. They used to produce very large fruits and when they're ripe, they could be too sweet to discourage me who didn't like natural fruits that are too sweet. When you eat a lot of it, your teeth would sometimes not support eating something else (I don't have the correct term to explain the feeling that develops with the teeth when you eat too much sweet fruits like Oranges or Pineapples).

There was a time (during my childhood) where some fruit trees didn't belong to anyone in and around our villages: Pineapples, Oranges, Tangerines, Bananas, Mangoes, Pawpaws, and of course Pears and Avocados. To eat, it just suffices you go to where to find them.

Those times are gone! When I was in Ghana in 2012 I found the oranges I bought everywhere far from sweet. I began to wonder what happened to the soil.
Find a name for it in your language 11 years ago

An avocado pear costs $1.50 in the USA. Our people are courting hunger by neglecting the fruit trees.

An avocado pear costs $1.50 in the USA. Our people are courting hunger by neglecting the fruit trees.
Adam 11 years ago

Vuvuzela, pears grow only in temperate and meditteranian regions. They do not grow in the tropics and cannot grow in Ghana. In Africa, pears grow only in North Africa and, perhaps South Africa.

I am also from the Volta Reg ...
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Vuvuzela, pears grow only in temperate and meditteranian regions. They do not grow in the tropics and cannot grow in Ghana. In Africa, pears grow only in North Africa and, perhaps South Africa.

I am also from the Volta Region and there are no pears in that region or any region in Ghana. But there are lots and lots of avocadoes in the Volta Region especially in the Logba, Leklebi, Golokwati and even Hohoe areas. They are huge and beautiful. We call them "peya" in the VR. The writer is saying that "peya" or "Paya" is a local corruption of the word "pear" but then that is not the correct name of that fruit. That is the very purpose of his writing this article - that we in Ghana call avocado, pear!

You cannot describe the avocado that is common in Ghana as "sweet" (in terms of sugary sweet) and avocado doesn't give you that thing on the teeth that too much orange, pinneaple or even green mangoes give you that makes it difficult for you to eat real food, especially meat.

In Ghana, some people say "avocado pear" which is also wrong.
Vuvuzela 11 years ago

You're right, I have just seen what you mean. I have been confusing the two names, namely Avocado with Annona muricata(I don't know its real name in English) known in the Volta as Niankli/ Nyankle, etc.

You're right, I have just seen what you mean. I have been confusing the two names, namely Avocado with Annona muricata(I don't know its real name in English) known in the Volta as Niankli/ Nyankle, etc.
Adam 11 years ago

Yes, nyankloe is a different thing. It can give you that unpleasant thing on your teeth (nya nya nya nya...) that will not make you be able to eat "real" food. But people don't get to eat nyankloe much. You will normally shar ...
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Yes, nyankloe is a different thing. It can give you that unpleasant thing on your teeth (nya nya nya nya...) that will not make you be able to eat "real" food. But people don't get to eat nyankloe much. You will normally share it with others... But if you eat the green ones alone, trouble for you.
zaaza 11 years ago

Why do we keep saying this or that plant does not grow in Ghana when we have not attempted doing so? It is true that a lot of the plants in the tropics will not grow in the temperate regions but the opposite is not always tr ...
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Why do we keep saying this or that plant does not grow in Ghana when we have not attempted doing so? It is true that a lot of the plants in the tropics will not grow in the temperate regions but the opposite is not always true. I personally know people who have grown potatoes (not sweet potatoes) in Ghana and they can easily substiute for yam. The good thing about it is that it matures in only three months. People have grown grapes even in Accra. I hope in order to make food more abundant we should experiment with plants which grow in the temperate regions too because they almost always require less time to mature.

First Mariner 11 years ago

Vuvuzela, you are missing something here, the pear you are talking about is the avocado the writer has talked about. Avocados are not sweet like you are saying. Read over the article again and correct yourself. The pears we s ...
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Vuvuzela, you are missing something here, the pear you are talking about is the avocado the writer has talked about. Avocados are not sweet like you are saying. Read over the article again and correct yourself. The pears we see in Ghana nowadays are imported because they don't grow in Ghana.
Adam 11 years ago

Pears don't grow in Ghana. But avocados do

Pears don't grow in Ghana. But avocados do
Vuvuzela 11 years ago

You're right, I have been confusing it with Annona muricata, which is common in Ghana, but which we don't respect.

You're right, I have been confusing it with Annona muricata, which is common in Ghana, but which we don't respect.
Adam 11 years ago

But what is avocado in the local languages? There are many things we don't have a local name for or the local name is a corruption of the foreign name (guava). Avocado perhaps didn't originally grow in Ghana and was brought b ...
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But what is avocado in the local languages? There are many things we don't have a local name for or the local name is a corruption of the foreign name (guava). Avocado perhaps didn't originally grow in Ghana and was brought by outsiders but our climate was good for it. Plantain didn't originally grow with us, was brought from South America, but we have local names for it in Twi, Ewe, or Ga.

But why haven't we had a local name for avocado?

Somebody knows the answer?
KRB 11 years ago

Many of us came to Europe/North America to learn the difference between avocado and pear. Here, we stopped calling that fruit we have in Ghana "paya" or, more commonly, "peya". We call it correctly avocado and use pear for wh ...
read full comment

Many of us came to Europe/North America to learn the difference between avocado and pear. Here, we stopped calling that fruit we have in Ghana "paya" or, more commonly, "peya". We call it correctly avocado and use pear for what pear is. The point is that they don't make that mistake here. They know the difference.

What is called avocado here is mostly imported from Israel (not a tropical climate) and South America. They are tiny things that nobody will eat in Ghana or that Ghanaian children will play ball with. But I guess it is the variant of that fruit. They don't import avocado from Ghana (huge and wonderful) here and most Europeans will be surprised at the size of our "paya". They don't also eat it the way we do - definitely not with bread or groundnuts. They may split it open and scoop out the edible part with a spoon. I can't imagine Ghanaians doing that because a good Ghanaian avocado can be split open and peeled like a mature banana...

Pear is really a different thing. I saw it in books only in Ghana. These days, globalization has enabled non-tropical fruits to be freely available in Ghana. But Europeans have long been importing tropical fruits into their countries and have, of late, been growing some of these in green houses. Can we also grow temperate and Mediterranean fruits in green houses in Ghana?

But for me, the most interesting part of your piece is where you (twice) referred to pear as an "exotic" fruit. I think you're right there but the European will find this description very strange and may even think it is incorrect. You see, it is not because, to the European, pear is not exotic but because to him, the exotic is something that is non-European and comes from some strange land far away from the European "centre". They don't think of the exotic simply as non-native. So they are allowed to describe our things as exotic but we are not allowed to describe theirs as such.

But you're very right, Teacher Idris. If avocado, mangoes and guava are exotic fruits in Europe, pear, apples, and peaches are exotic items in Ghana and much of Africa.

I really wish you'll come here and discuss your own articles. You don't have to respond to people who insult you.
KWAME, BELGIUM 11 years ago

Thanks for this explanation.

Thanks for this explanation.
' and Jesus wept ' 11 years ago

Knowledge indeed is power.

Knowledge indeed is power.
flat face 11 years ago

Show pictures of fruits

Show pictures of fruits
IDRIS PACAS 11 years ago

Unfortunately, Ghanaweb does not publish photos alongside articles. I've attached several photos to several of my write-ups which were never published.

Sorry for the inconvenience. If you google the same title, you'll see ...
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Unfortunately, Ghanaweb does not publish photos alongside articles. I've attached several photos to several of my write-ups which were never published.

Sorry for the inconvenience. If you google the same title, you'll see the photos in other webpages that published the same write-up. Good day!
Fr 11 years ago

At almost 50 years, just learnt somethiing new. Wow. Thank you very much.

At almost 50 years, just learnt somethiing new. Wow. Thank you very much.

Kofi 11 years ago

Very interesting piece. You could also mention Annona (sweetsop, sweet apple). Thanks

Very interesting piece. You could also mention Annona (sweetsop, sweet apple). Thanks
mama ceci 11 years ago

thank you teacher. my folks in the villages are however happy with the 'pear' they eat with their mashed plantain.(oto)

thank you teacher. my folks in the villages are however happy with the 'pear' they eat with their mashed plantain.(oto)
Find a name for it in your language 11 years ago

Don't worry, in America they call it avocado pear.

Don't worry, in America they call it avocado pear.
JK 11 years ago

Many Ghanaians call horse mackerel - Salmon.

Many Ghanaians call horse mackerel - Salmon.
kwadwo. 11 years ago

I had an argument at the fish market with a lady what she was selling was indeed mackerel not salmon.

I had an argument at the fish market with a lady what she was selling was indeed mackerel not salmon.
GHFUO, MALLAM MAHAMA BB! 11 years ago

WAT IS TH DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IBRAHIM AND ABRAHAM? ITS THE SAME FRUIT BUT PPL IN GH CALL IT DIFFRNTLY. AVOCADO IS CALLED PEAR IN GH. THERE IS HOWEVER A FRUIT CALLED PEAR. IN NORTH AMERICA, WHAT THEY WILL CALL AN AVOCADO WILL B ...
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WAT IS TH DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IBRAHIM AND ABRAHAM? ITS THE SAME FRUIT BUT PPL IN GH CALL IT DIFFRNTLY. AVOCADO IS CALLED PEAR IN GH. THERE IS HOWEVER A FRUIT CALLED PEAR. IN NORTH AMERICA, WHAT THEY WILL CALL AN AVOCADO WILL BE NAMED A PEAR. THE PEAR NAMED FRUIT IS SIMILAR TO A GUAVA. I DONT KNOW WHAT PPL IN GH WILL CALL A PEAR FRUIT THO.
Detroit 9 years ago

This was what I was about to tell this idiot who wrote this article . Thinking he knows it all fool. Its the same fruit and we just happen to give it different names thats all . They're both avocado's . Africans call it pear ...
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This was what I was about to tell this idiot who wrote this article . Thinking he knows it all fool. Its the same fruit and we just happen to give it different names thats all . They're both avocado's . Africans call it pear . but its the something. I have had it in America and back in Ghana too and it tastes the same and looks the same. You can fool some but not all moron.
Hi 11 years ago

Thanks for sharing this knowledge.

Thanks for sharing this knowledge.
Find a name for it in your language 11 years ago

There is avocado pear. Ghanaians have dropped avocado from the name.

There is avocado pear. Ghanaians have dropped avocado from the name.
GEORGE 11 years ago

Ghanaians could not have been used to the name pear because pears are not grown in Ghana. Even they are not common to-date.

Be specific next time. Follow the writer who raised specific issues. Don't comment when you've no ...
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Ghanaians could not have been used to the name pear because pears are not grown in Ghana. Even they are not common to-date.

Be specific next time. Follow the writer who raised specific issues. Don't comment when you've no sensible comment.

Dawadawa 11 years ago

Very informative. More of it. Thanks.

Very informative. More of it. Thanks.
Dr Robert Glah 11 years ago

Thanks teacher Idris Pacas

Please tell us about the valuable nutrition contents of these fruits to demonstrate the differences or similarities, apart from the superficial differences.

Thanks teacher Idris Pacas

Please tell us about the valuable nutrition contents of these fruits to demonstrate the differences or similarities, apart from the superficial differences.
Pelicles 11 years ago

What is the different between Papaya and Pawpaw? I think Avocado is a Spanish word for Paya or Pear because if ask a Spanish or Hispanic what pawpaw is, he/she will also ask you what are you talking about.

We should bear ...
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What is the different between Papaya and Pawpaw? I think Avocado is a Spanish word for Paya or Pear because if ask a Spanish or Hispanic what pawpaw is, he/she will also ask you what are you talking about.

We should bear in mind that in the Americas, things that we know back home have different names here but in reality, they are the same.

Will the author come and differentiate Papaya and Pawpaw?
IDRIS PACAS 11 years ago

Dieticians, herbalists and biologists uniquely identify plants via their botanical names. Whether you're in America, Britain, China or any other place, botanical names create no confision. Even where one plant has two or more ...
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Dieticians, herbalists and biologists uniquely identify plants via their botanical names. Whether you're in America, Britain, China or any other place, botanical names create no confision. Even where one plant has two or more botanical names, only one is botanically valid.

Thus, papaya is botanically called Carica papaya. Here, in Ghana, many people refer to papaya as pawpaw.

The true pawpaw also spelt papaw is botanically called Asimina triloba.
Koo 11 years ago

Thanks , this makes it clearer.

Thanks , this makes it clearer.
Paymaster 11 years ago

It turns out avocado is also called alligator pear, perhaps the origins of the Ghanaian experience. I am sure at some point the English would have taught us to refer to it as such - 'pear' then followed our variant paya or ...
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It turns out avocado is also called alligator pear, perhaps the origins of the Ghanaian experience. I am sure at some point the English would have taught us to refer to it as such - 'pear' then followed our variant paya or peya because of our accents.
tolar 11 years ago

Ooh what an educative piece. we all make such mistakes and this should enlighten us all.

Ooh what an educative piece. we all make such mistakes and this should enlighten us all.
Kojo Billy Duncan 11 years ago

This article is much appreciated.

This article is much appreciated.
Kweku Boateng Jnr. 11 years ago

Thank you. Stay blessed.

Thank you. Stay blessed.
Leonard 11 years ago

I commend you for the effort put into this write-up. I have learned some information which I believe will help correct my generational errors.
Thank goodness we can talk about something other than just politics.

I commend you for the effort put into this write-up. I have learned some information which I believe will help correct my generational errors.
Thank goodness we can talk about something other than just politics.
kwasi 11 years ago

good for helping Ghana s education...

good for helping Ghana s education...
Agonaba 11 years ago

Just like Koobi's new "outdooring christening name, aultimate Tilapia.

Just like Koobi's new "outdooring christening name, aultimate Tilapia.
Asantrofie 11 years ago

Can somebody tell me more about pineapple? It neither contains pine nor apple.

Can somebody tell me more about pineapple? It neither contains pine nor apple.
Akortia Kosi 11 years ago

Thanks for enlightenment.

Thanks for enlightenment.
jny 11 years ago

Thank you very much for the eye opening article.I wish we would concentrate on similar things than engaging in useless politicking

Thank you very much for the eye opening article.I wish we would concentrate on similar things than engaging in useless politicking
Steve 11 years ago

thanks for the knowledge imparted you are a teacher indeed

thanks for the knowledge imparted you are a teacher indeed
Adefolakemi Kehinde 10 years ago

Thanks, Now I Understand The Differences

Thanks, Now I Understand The Differences

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Avocado is different from pear

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