Pears of the cultivar Gieser Wildeman were cooked for up to 24 h and changes in polyphenol and cell wall components were monitored. The main polyphenols were flavan-3-ols (epicatechin and its procyanidin oligomers), with an average degree of polymerisation of 6, and caffeoylquinic acid. Upon cooking, flavan-3-ols were retained in the pear tissue while the hydroxycinnamic acids were partially leached into the cooking water. After 1 h of cooking, 65% of the original flavan-3-ols and 40% of the original caffeoylquinic acid were still detectable in the pear tissue; the cooking water contained only 2% of the flavan-3-ols but 24% of the caffeoylquinic acid. Cell walls represented 23 g kg-1 of the fresh pear and were composed of cellulose, pectins and xylans. The pectic fractions was degraded during cooking while xylans and cellulose were not affected.