medlar

While out in the garden last night with my glass of wine l began to think of the gardens my father had and in particular the orchards,what came to mind was a Medlar tree which had fruit simlar to an apple but quite ugly to look at,what l couldnt remember was what did we do with this fruit,one bit l think was it was left to nearly rotten,did we eat it or was it made into a preserve,for the life of me l can remember,also has any member got such a tree?

 

if your medlar is what the Spanish call a nispendos, you simply peel it and eat it, discarding the black stones. It has a refreshing acidic taste with a pleasant texture.

 

We have a medlar tree. I would doubt very much if anyone could ever describe the taste as pleasantly acidic nor the texture pleasant. Normally one leaves the fruit to go almost rotten (bletted is the term used) then it is most often made into a preserve. Though I have to say that we found that less than pleasant to eat too!
The Spanish for medlar is nispero though. Perhaps they grow differently in Spain.

[ 03. August 2006, 08:04 PM: Message edited by: Palustris ]

 

I've got a Medlar in a clients garden and the fruit, bletted and turned into a jelly, tastes of pretty much nothing. I am led to believe it was Henry VIII's favourite dish. Hate to think what else he had to eat.

The tree has a lovely habit, a loose dome, with gorgeous pinky white large apple type flowers in spring, russet autumn colour, and quite attractive bark, so it gets the thumbs up in my house for amenity value.

 

I tried some last year, even let them go slightly rotten but wasn't impressed.

 

Thanks Guys