Everyone who cooks has opinions about her favorite flavors--the special fillips that provide hints of mystery and special tang. Here's one you'll want at the top of your list: pears.

They're perfumey and they're really unctuous, juicy," says Cathy Whims, a Portland, Oregon, cooking teacher and chef. "It's not a one-hit taste. And their aroma is so amazing. It's flowery, kind of sweet in a way. They have an earthy quality to them, similar to grapes."

It's that abundance of flavor that makes people buy them by the bushel to put up for later--they're the ally of the cook. More than any other fruits, the pear benefits from being preserved. Consider plump halves suspended in thick glass jars; slices simmered into long-lasting chutneys; crescents dried to make intense, chewy fruit leather; and sweet, ice-fast wedges in a deep freeze slumber.

"In the middle of a dreary winter, there's nothing like opening up fruit that you've canned that summer," says Sydney Blaine, pear farmer and mother of Heather McCurdy, whose family is profiled in "Harvesting a Legacy" (see page 35).

Unlike many other fruits, the pear's affinity for preservation comes from the complexity of its flavor and the role that cooking plays in bringing out its best aspects--whether on the stove in preparation for canning or freezing, or the low and slow heat during drying. "Cooking intensifies the flavors I: really like," says Whims, who often incorporates pears into her classes.

They not only taste wonderful in our collection of recipes, but also lend themselves to improvisation. Dried pears can be tossed with salads; jarred pears cut up and skewered with chicken make a unique addition to shish kebab; and one of the best tricks around is to throw slightly thawed frozen pears into the blender, where they become sorbet.

The whole idea of preserving pears begs an obvious question: Why put up pears at home when supermarket shelves are laden with jars, bags, and cans? The image of home food preservation conjures up something long and arduous--hours of toil to put aside enough to survive the winter. Today's conveniences--commercially made jars, self-sealing lids, freezer containers, and work-saving blenders--make drying, canning, and freezing simple in your kitchen.