Pears are a crisp, juicy fruit, but they are not usually the first food you think of when it comes to vitamin C. A medium fresh pear provides roughly 7–8 mg of vitamin C, which is only about 8–9 percent of the Daily Value. Still, pears contribute useful micronutrients when you eat several servings of fruit a day, and the exact amount depends on the variety, the form, and the serving size.
This pear vitamin C calculator lets you estimate your intake quickly. Choose between fresh, Asian, canned, or dried pears, then enter your serving in grams, ounces, or whole pieces. The tool converts everything to a standard weight and applies USDA nutrient values to show milligrams of vitamin C, the percentage of the Daily Value, and the calculation steps.
Use it for meal planning, nutrition tracking, or simply to see how your favorite pear snack adds up.
🍐 Pear Type
⚖️ Amount
How to Use This Calculator
Start by selecting the pear form that matches what you are eating. Most grocery-store pears — Bartlett, Anjou, Bosc, and Comice — fall under the fresh pear option, which uses 4.3 mg of vitamin C per 100 g. If you are eating an Asian pear, choose that row, because its flesh has a slightly different nutrient profile. Canned pears packed in light syrup contain much less vitamin C per 100 g because canning and syrup dilute the fruit portion.
Next, enter the amount. You can type a number in grams or ounces, or use the whole-fruit options to estimate from a small, medium, or large pear. The calculator assumes one medium pear with the skin weighs about 178 g, a small pear about 140 g, and a large pear about 230 g. If you weigh your pear on a kitchen scale, use grams for the most accurate result.
Why Pear Variety Matters
Vitamin C is not spread evenly across all pear products. A fresh pear’s ascorbic acid content depends on the cultivar, growing conditions, ripeness, and storage time. Values in nutrition databases are averages, not precise measurements for a single fruit. The fresh option here uses 4.3 mg per 100 g, which is a widely cited USDA value for raw pears with skin. Asian pears average about 3.8 mg per 100 g. Canned pears in light syrup drop to about 1.0 mg per 100 g because the syrup adds weight but almost no vitamin C, while dried pear slices concentrate nutrients to roughly 7 mg per 100 g.
For comparison, a medium orange contains about 70 mg of vitamin C, so pears are a modest contributor. But pears are low in calories and provide fiber, copper, and potassium, which is why they still fit into a balanced fruit rotation.
Formula Used: Weight × Nutrient Factor
The calculator works in three short steps. First, convert the serving to grams if you entered ounces or whole fruits. One ounce equals 28.3495 g. Then multiply the weight in grams by the vitamin C value for the selected pear form, expressed as milligrams per 100 g. Finally, divide by 100 to get milligrams of vitamin C in the serving. To express that as a percentage of the Daily Value, divide by 90 mg and multiply by 100.
If you track your intake in a food app, you can use the same calculation by hand to double-check entries for generic produce.
Worked Examples
Example 1: One large fresh pear. Select fresh pear and enter 1 large pear. The weight is estimated as 230 g. The result is 230 × 4.3 ÷ 100 = 9.89 mg of vitamin C, or about 11 percent of the Daily Value.
Example 2: 3 ounces of canned pear. Convert 3 oz to 85.05 g. With the canned option at 1.0 mg per 100 g, you get 85.05 × 1.0 ÷ 100 = 0.85 mg, less than 1 percent of the DV. The low number is expected because syrup adds bulk but not vitamin C.
Example 3: Snack-size dried pear slices. A 40 g serving of dried pears at 7.0 mg per 100 g works out to 40 × 7.0 ÷ 100 = 2.8 mg, about 3 percent of the DV. Dried pears are more nutrient-dense by weight, but a serving is usually smaller than a fresh fruit.
Reference Table: Vitamin C by Pear Form
The table below shows the values used in this calculator, based on USDA nutrient data. Use it when you want to compare options without running the tool.
| Pear form | Vitamin C per 100 g | One medium serving | % Daily Value* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh pear (Bartlett, Anjou, Bosc) | 4.3 mg | 7.7 mg (178 g) | 8.5% |
| Asian pear | 3.8 mg | 6.8 mg (178 g) | 7.6% |
| Canned pear, light syrup | 1.0 mg | 1.8 mg (178 g) | 2.0% |
| Dried pear slices | 7.0 mg | 9.8 mg (140 g) | 10.9% |
*Percent Daily Value based on 90 mg vitamin C. Serving sizes are approximations.
Quick Answers
Do pears have more vitamin C than oranges? No. A medium pear has about 7–8 mg of vitamin C, while a medium orange has roughly 70 mg. Pears still count as fruit servings but are not a vitamin C power source.
Should you eat the skin? The skin contains fiber and polyphenols, and most nutrient data includes it. If you peel pears, the vitamin C total may be slightly lower because the peel is a small part of the whole fruit.
Does cooking destroy vitamin C? Yes, heat and water can reduce ascorbic acid, so canned and poached pears often test lower than raw fruit. This is why the canned option uses a lower value.
How does this compare with other fruits? For a wider vitamin C comparison, see the blueberry vitamin C calculator or the pomegranate vitamin C calculator.
For complete nutrient profiles of hundreds of foods, consult the USDA FoodData Central database. The FDA publishes the official 90 mg Daily Value reference on its Daily Value guidance page.