Sunday, October 19

Meddling with medlars

A couple of years ago we bought a medlar tree which we planted in our garden - more for it's ornamental value than anything else. This year we have harvested a bumper crop - well OK - we have just picked five medlars but considering the tree only had five flowers and it is only a baby that wasn't bad. Now apparently we have to 'blet' them - which seems to mean let them start to rot - before they are edible. Has anyone any experience of growing or even eating medlars. Must admit having mixed feelings especially as apparently one of the nicknames that the French have for them is 'cul de chien' which politely translated means 'dog's bottom'. Click here to read more.

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2 comments:

  1. graibeardOctober 22, 2008

    No experience in growing but I have eaten them. While it was a long time ago the memories are favourable, I liked them and would have grown my own if I'd been able to source them. Brown flesh, sweet and grainy (sugar crystals I presume). Don't think of them as rotting, they just need a long time for the sugars to develop fully. (Which reminds me of one of the guys I worked with at the time who would only eat a banana when it was black - rotten to us but sweet to him! All the starch had been converted to sugar.)

    As for the dog's bottom? that may be a reference to their appearance more than anything else - see Mespilus at Wikipedia for an unflattering description. One of the references there links to FEATURED FRUIT TREES which gives a positive review.

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  2. Sue GarrettOctober 22, 2008

    Thanks for that - when the time comes I'll post what we thought of them.

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