North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Douglas Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org>]

About 25 years ago an immigrant from Greece ( a barber in Kingston, 
Ontario) told me that in Greece there were medlars and quinces that 
ripened enough for fresh eating, due to the long growing season.

About 28 years ago when I was living in eastern Ontario I got some 
fruits of ornamental medlars for seed from the late Dr. Fleming of the 
Vineland station in the Niagara peninsula (he told me that the seedling 
line came originally form the Royal Horticultural Society in Britain). I 
put them in the freezer compartment of a rather weak old refrigerator I 
had where they were maintained just above freezing. Along about February 
I checked them and some (not all) were delicious with a spicy 
super-apple-sauce like flavour and texture. I deduce that lower 
temperature bletting is good, at least for some strains of medlar.

Unfortunately I was never able to plant the seed.

Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario


Lon J. Rombough wrote:
> Had a surprise today. I went to check my medlars and found that a fair 
> number had already bletted on one of the tree medlar trees I have. They 
> are all the same variety, "Nottingham". That was the first time that has 
> happened here. Usually the fruits drop before they blet. Another aspect 
> of the different weather, apparently. There weren't any marks or 
> indications of injury that might have sped up the process, either. The 
> flavor seemed more intense than the usual ones, bletted off the tree. If 
> there was a way to breed for "tree ripened" medlars, it could be useful. 
> No storing or bletting needed, just process the picked fruit into pulp 
> immediately.
> -Lon Rombough
> Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, *The Grape Grower, *at 
> http://www.bunchgrapes.com Winner of the Garden Writers Association 
> "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003.
> For even more grape lessons, go to http://www.grapeschool.com
> For all other things grape, http://www.vitisearch.com