Frozen Pears 冻梨

Frozen Pears (冻梨) are a northeastern winter fruit dessert with dark skins and juicy flesh after thawing. They also appear at Hegang (鹤岗) festivities: the city’s 2025 forest half-marathon served them from a large ice bowl, with the municipal account describing the fruit as sweet and full of juice.

Two ways to thaw and eat

Yangtze Evening News describes two approaches. Slightly thawed pears can be cut or bitten into while their flesh still contains fine ice crystals. For a softer result, the pears are soaked in cold water. An ice shell forms outside as the flesh thaws; this shell is broken away before the juice is sucked out and the softened fruit eaten.

Varieties and serving styles

Heilongjiang Daily describes juices made from different pear varieties, distinguishing the strong fruit fragrance of Nanguo pears (南果梨), the fresh taste of Huagai pears (花盖梨), and the sweet, slightly tart taste of apple pears (苹果梨). Its Harbin (哈尔滨) coverage also records a vendor removing stems and cores before cutting thawed pears into ready-to-eat pieces. Frozen pears remain a winter after-meal fruit in northeastern households.