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Medlars.
The Medlar Tree, or Mespilus Germanica is not a native tree of the UK
although it has become naturalised in places from Plants that have been
cultivated in Gardens and Parks. They do grow naturally round the
Mediterranean areas of Europe and being quite hardy, actually grow
throughout much of Europe.
Cultivated varieties do exist, but are not often seen on sale in England
and are relatively expensive. Some trees that are available may be
Grafted to keep them smaller, but Medlars are relatively small trees
anyway that will readily fruit at a few years old and only a few feet
tall. They are said to grow easily from their large Pips, but I have
tried unsuccessfully several times. They are deciduous trees with long
leaves not unlike those of a Laurel in shape.
The fruits of the Medlar are very hard and quite inedible until fully
ripe, and from one angle, not unlike small apples in their appearance.
To soften fruit, they have to be “Bletted,” which is a posh word that
simply means the fruit has gone over ripe. When a Pear, or Apple goes
soft, brown and is rotten it takes on an unpleasant tang, but Medlars
become sweet and quite tasty. The thin Skin on ripe fruit can be
carefully peeled off to reveal the soft brown pulp inside which looks
most unappetising. From another angle the Calyx end of the fruit is
unkindly said, to look like a dog’s bottom and the soft, ripe brown
flesh looks like something the dog has done!
This might be interesting to you even if you don’t grow Medlars – yet:
Over Christmas I bought some Cheese that was quite strong and tangy. As
I am a fan of Mild Cheddar and Edam, or Baby Bel, the Cheese was not
being eaten very enthusiastically and was only getting eaten slowly.
Whether I had read it somewhere I don’t know, but I decided to spoon
some Medlar paste onto the Cheese and Biscuits. Incredibly the Cheese
became Mild losing all of its sharpness and I couldn’t taste the Medlar
at all – just the Biscuits and mildness of the Cheese. I have eaten
Medlar paste with a Teaspoon for some years so knew that it was sweet
and sticky, but in the past I only treated it as an unusual Fruit. I
knew the Jelly (Medlar Jam) could be used on various types of Meat but
hadn’t thought of using the fresh paste on anything. What else you can
combine Medlar paste with I don’t know, but it made me wonder.
Following on from this thought not long ago I did a Google Search and
found out some more things about Medlars. I knew that traditionally,
Medlar Fruit was used to make a Clear Jam, or Jelly, although the ripe
Fruit are brown and the unripe Fruit are the colour of an Apple. I found
that Medlar Cheese is another unusual Delicacy that can be made from
ripe Fruits. Basically, this is made by boiling mashed up Fruit with
water, then sieving it to remove the Pips and Skin and next putting it
through a Cheese Cloth to remove the excess water. Finally, you heat up
some Sugar and mix it with the paste that will then set into a block
which can be cut and sliced just like a block of Cheese. The flavoured
water and Juices can be boiled up with more Sugar to make a kind of
Clear Jam.
Recently, I found myself with a lot of Medlar Fruit all ripening
together so picked out a Saucepan full and tried to make some Cheese. I
didn’t get it right and although it thickened, it didn’t set so I made
some Pastry Tarts which I then filled with the paste before re-heating
and serving with Custard. The resulting Pudding went down very well so
the large quantity of left-over Paste was divided up between some small
Plastic Tubs and put into my Freezer for use later! I don’t know how it
will freeze, but it was boiled beforehand so it should be alright.
One thing that Medlar fruits have going in their favour is that you pick
the Fruit very late in the year – well after most other Fruits. This
means that you can have fresh English grown Fruit through the depths of
Winter when nothing else homegrown is available. Indeed, you don’t
usually start picking Medlar Fruits until the Leaves have dropped and we
have had the first Frosts of Winter. Both Medlar Jelly and Cheese will
keep for a long time if made properly offering a way of making their
Fruity goodness available even longer and of course if it turns out that
the boiled Paste will keep in the Deep Freeze this is another way of
preserving it.
The Medlar has largely gone out of favour – perhaps because when ripe,
it is extremely soft and easily damaged. This would make selling it in
shops difficult these days. However, a friend of mine recently wanted to
try some Fruit before she planted a Tree. So, my thought was to post her
some ripe fruits which I did by putting them in a couple of Egg Boxes !
! ! They got to her safely so perhaps some enterprising Merchant could
sell the ripe Fruit in Egg Boxes ! ! !
If Medlars are a little unripe when picked they need to be allowed to
ripen somewhere cool and a little damp such as a Shed where they should
keep for a few weeks. I keep a tray full in a large outdoor Tool
Cabinet, or you could keep a few in the Egg Compartment of a Fridge! !
!. Perhaps I should point out that Medlars will dry out and go inedible,
quite quickly if you try to ripen, or store them, in the warmth of a
house.
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