Hello all, whilst out for a walk in the park yesterday I came across what I think (& hope!) is a medlar tree. It's in fruit at the moment, though from what I've read on the internet I should wait until much later in the year before going back there with my stepladders and grabbing what I can...
Does anyone have any experience with this odd-looking fruit? Specifically, can anyone confirm or deny that what I've got here is actually medlar fruit? Are there any other things that look similar which I might have mistaken for the real thing?
They definitely look like medlars to me - do a google image search and it should confirm it if there is any doubt in your mind.
From what I know medlars are usually left until there has been a frost as this makes them softer and more palatable
Yep, they're medlars. However, knowing when to pick them is a bit tougher than identification. They taste rank until they're ready, and the time between them being ready and being rotten is a matter of days (at least it is here.)
You have to wait until they're mushy is the best advice I can give, but that's not a reliable test I'm afraid.
Yep Medlers ... I found a tree two years ago .... Heres some info ... just cut and paste it frome a forage blog I do else where ...
Now you may not be familiar with this fruit … its very old and not found to often.
I am very lucky … It’s a weird one to look at …
And stranger still to harvest. First of all they never go ripe on the tree. You pick then around October/November then you have to Blett them … that means you pack them into a box with straw .. just like they are going to bed… and leave them till they start to decay… sounds gross I know … but that’s when they are ready.
Medlar is a fruit related to quinces and apples, and part of the rose family. Medlar trees grow very slowly. The wood of the tree is light red and very hard with a very fine grain; it was often used for canes and walking sticks.
The trees bloom a month later than apple trees, producing pinky-white flowers. The fruit is small and round. It starts off with greenish-yellow skin ripening to rust coloured. There is an indent at the top of the fruit, and several seeds inside.
Varieties include: Dutch, Macrocarpa, Nottingham and Royal. Nottingham fruits are about 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide. The Dutch and Macrocarpa have somewhat larger fruit.
Medlar has fallen out of fashion. Neglected, it now grows wild or in abandoned orchards. Many of these trees are very, very old. Some are thought to be even centuries old.
They very high in pectin. Good jellies and jams can be made from it.
Storage
Store in a dry place.
History
Medlar was probably native to the eastern Mediterranean. Was grown in Greece by 700 BC; came to Rome about 200 BC. The Romans cultivated them. Medlars are shown in the mosaics at Pompeii. Medlars were also very popular in the Middle Ages.
I have made both of the following recipes and I love them as do others.
Medlar Jelly
Ingredients:
1lb Medlars – …Bletted
1/4 pint water
sugar
juice 1/2 lemon
Method.
• Chop the fruit, don't worry about peeling, just throw everything in to the pan, add the water and simmer until soft.
• Strain through a jelly bag, in to a measuring jug
• Add the sugar, allowing 1lb sugar to 1pint juice
• Stir in sugar and lemon juice
• Boil rapidly until set - to test drop a teaspoon of the mixture on to a saucer, allow to cool and then drag your finger over the surface, if a skin has formed the jelly is ready
• Delicious as a Jelly with Meat or Game
Medler Tart.
1 pound meddlers. ( chuck em all in … that’s what I was told)
Large teaspoon each of Cinnamon and Ground Ginger.
4 oz caster sugar.
2 egg yolks.
Partly cooked pastry tart case.
Method
Gently cook the Medlers until soft strain through a sieve before adding other ingredients.
Place meddlers and other ingredients in a double pan of hot water and bring gently to the boil, stirring all the time. When thick and gloopy pour into pastry case, lattice with pastry strips and pop into the oven for 30ish minutes. Gas mark 6. Let it cool so it sets properly. Serve with ice cream.
I've heard people talking about them. You eat them when they're rotten but not quite putrid and you have to blett them, or make them just the right kind of rotten.
They fell out of favour around the turn of the last century because they couldn't easily be transported in to cities without going putrid and consumers didn't like the idea of eating what they percieved of as rotten, bad fruit.
The jelly can be good with roasted meats in the same way you eat cranberry jelly.
QuakerBear wrote:
They fell out of favour around the turn of the last century because they couldn't easily be transported in to cities without going putrid and consumers didn't like the idea of eating what they percieved of as rotten, bad fruit.
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I find tha transprt thing a bit weird... as they take quite a while to blett ... ??
Red ... I have not eaten them as they are ... the look did put me of ... but the jelly i made is delicious ... but quite difficult to discribe...
people I have given it to to try like it to ...
I have a tree but don't care for the taste so I let the birds have them. They do blett (ripen) on the tree as I've eaten them direct. They are full of big pips and the taste and texture is something like sourish stewed rotten apple.
I tried to make jelly out of them but ended up with syrup. The syrup is absolutely delicious. I use it instead of honey. It's very similar to runny honey but more "fruity". I've got a great ice-cream recipe that I use it in.
