North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Hans Brinkmann <hans-brinkmann@t-online.de>]

Hallo Bob,
I agree, only a very few people will like medlars  for their taste only, 
but many people will like medlars also for their
history (at Babylon it was traded already), ornamental character because 
of the very large and attractive
flowers..., interesting fruits (Hunds-ärschle = Dog's-backside), and  
late dropping of the fruits.
Regular at winter times, up to the variety. In winter days such a tree 
may look very rich and interesting.
People say (in Europe) some medlars have a better taste, when grafted 
onto pear instead of Crataegus.
But they live longer onto Crataegus. In Central Europe we have approx. 
15 varieties.
Sometimes people like to eat even fresh quince with some astringency - 
but only in a small amount.
Anyhow, medlars are - even in Europe - not very known and planted 
usually only from collectors.
ciao
hans Germany




Bob Hartley schrieb:
> Like others on this thread, I have found medlars more trouble than they 
> are worth for eating out of hand.  I live in Maryland but have a hobby 
> orchard up near Biglerville, PA.  This past year I went up a week or two 
> before Christmas with wife and one son and his family (wife and 
> daughter)  to get trees from my Christmas tree patch.  While there, I 
> noticed that one of my two small medlars (a Nottingham) had a very heavy 
> crop, still on the leafless tree.  There had been a freeze early in the 
> month but unseasonably warm weather ever since. The fruit was soft, 
> apparently "bletted" in situ. I thought they tasted good, my son said 
> they tasted like rotten applesauce and the women said they were too ugly 
> and refused to taste.  Anyway I picked about half a bucket, a fraction 
> of the crop, to see what could be done with them. 
>
> There is no obvious way to separate the seed & skins from the sauce, so 
> I just dumped them all into a big pot with a cup of water to keep them 
> from burning at the start and broutght them to a boil with occasional 
> stirring and mashing with a large spoon.  After about 15 minutes 
> boiling, I let it cool some, filtered it through a couple of layers of 
> cheesecloth, added sugar to the filtrate and boiled it down to the 
> gelling point.  The yield was a pint of what looked like apple jelly but 
> with a distinct and very pleasant taste.
>
> Bob Hartley
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