Wow, what a great article! And it links to one of my favorite botany papers every written: "The Medlar (Mespilus germanica, Rosaceae) from Antiquity to Obscurity" by John R. Baird and John W. Thieret,
Economic Botany Vol. 43, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1989), pp. 328-372 (45 pages)
I read this by chance when it came out, and for a long while couldn't figure out whether it was a parody or a real scientific article. The whole story seemed so vastly improbable: a vulgar fruit central to Shakespeare that we've mostly forgotten about today, unable to be eaten until it's been rotted in sawdust for a few months --- pull the other one! Anyway, if the BBC article whets your interest in the medlar, you should definitely check out the full article. It's a gem.
To be clear the ‘bletting’ process isn’t really rotting. There isn’t bacterial or fungal decomposition. Instead it is enzymes within the fruit which slowly react with and transform it. This isn’t wholly dissimilar from normal fruit ripening which can happen after the fruit has been picked.
How is this different from ripening? Many commercial fruits are picked unripe, then during transportation (it takes bananas up to two weeks to travel from South America to Europe) they ripen off ready for sale.
Maybe I'm getting it wrong, but it sounds like this doesn't happen on the plant if you just let it be, whereas ripening does? (we just pick stuff unripe to gain transportation time)
There are at least a few classes of fruit in terms of ripening.
* Non-climacteric fruits will only ripen on the plant. Strawberries are like this. They can turn more red after picking, but it's deceptive. They don't actually get sweeter.
* Most climacteric fruits will ripen either on or off the plant. I think bananas and apples are like this.
* Some climacteric fruits will only ripen after picking. Avocados are like this for sure. You have to wait until it's large enough to pick it (or it will never ripen) and wait a week or two after picking to eat it. Leaving it on the fruit for an extra week or two is no substitute for waiting after picking. There are probably other such fruits.
However, I think many people are used to the taste of unripe pear - it's sweet enough, and quite crisp, and some people prefer them that way. As it sits on the counter, though, it becomes softer and sweeter over time.
I was very surprised at the office that all the pears would be eaten up each week before they ripened. I mean sure it's a matter of taste, but I used to think everyone let them soften. The obvious solution was to grab them early and hoard them in secret until they were ripe.
There are two class of European pears classified by flesh texture: The 'beurre' type and the 'water' type. The beurre are very hard and dry first but then mature to a fine and almost fatty texture that melts in the mouth. Some can store well in cave for several months. The water pear type is juicy and much softer in all stages and is unsuitable to store more than a few weeks in summer.
American Persimmons (Diospyros virginiana) actually respond well to a few freeze-thaw cycles. Despite myth, they don't require it for ripening, but they aren't hurt by it they way that Japanese kaki are.
I also have one in my garden. In German it is called "Mispel". I wouldn't call it forgotten although I have to attest that probably only history or plant nerds know of it.
As we grow a lot of historic varieties of vegetables a "Mispel" was not so unusual for us.
And living in a region where traditionally all hard liquor is from trees, the Mispel one happens to be my unquestioned favorite, after a good meal at the pub. I'd describe the tiny fruit aroma hint that is usual with fruit liquor as a touch of marzipan that works much better than I'd expect upon hearing this description (I'd definitely not be eager to try something advertised as marzipan liquor).
Perhaps it's no coincidence that the article doesn't mention Germany at all, it might ruin the "forgotten" hook. (no you can't walk into a German supermarket and walk out with a bag full of Mispels, it's not that un-forgotten)
I think you are confusing the "loquat" with the "medlar". The loquat is still relatively common, doesn't have a gaping open end, is yellow to orange, and can be eaten out of hand. The medlar is darker in color, has a very open calyx, and is practically inedible direct from the tree. The names are sometimes confused, with the loquat sometimes called a "Japanese medlar". Anyway, did yours possibly match this one instead: http://italywithgusto.com/praise-to-the-italian-loquat-fruit...?
You are right that depending on where you are, it could be either. The English language Wikipedia article for 'loquat'[1] suggests that Southern Italy uses 'nespolo' for 'loquat', while Northern uses it for 'medlar'. But if it's tasty and light orange colored when you eat it ripe directly from the tree, it's definitely a loquat. While if it's at all appealing after it's been stored for a few months and turned brown and mushy, it's a medlar.
They're not particularly rare in England (although rarely eaten). You see them a lot in stately homes. And although I don't live in one of those, I have one in my back garden.
I had a large tree in the garden of my previous house. I used to make significant quantities of medlar jelly every year and give the jars away to family and friends. The house was 400 years old, but the tree was significantly younger.
Fascinating read! I really wanted to try this until I got to this part.
A humorous research paper from 1989 gathered together some classic put-downs, including "At best, it is only one degree better than a rotten apple" – from a 19th Century gardening book – and "the medlar is not… worth a turd until it's ripe, and then it tastes like shit" – reportedly the opinion of an anonymous medieval author.
The same process takes place with astringent persimmons. Persimmons are even weirder because they have four types: pollination constant non-astringent (PCNA), pollination variant non-astringent (PVNA), pollination constant astringent (PCA), pollination variant astringent (PVA).
That means that some (very tasty) types of persimmon can be astringent or sweet when hard depending on whether they were pollinated, which is nearly impossible to tell just by looking at the fruit. The most well known categories of persimmons, at least in the US -- Fuyu types (PCNA) and Hachiya (PCA) -- are not pollination variant.
You have to wait until they are extremely soft -- then they'll be very very sweet (and juicy). I tend to only buy and grow non-astringent persimmons because it's a hassle.
People also dry them -- there's a whole process for this (one link among many):
I would like to know your with those varieties that are almost unknown in Europe.
Hatchiya is the standard one in astringent types. 'Rojo brillante' is also very good. Saijo and Chocolate are also very famous but not so easy to find. All named varieties are astringent.
> Do people do anything with the astringent types?
Yes, we do. Both have their own merits, but astringent types have a couple of serious advantages over non astringent, 1) they store much more sugar than the fuju types and 2) are untouched by insects or birds until ripe.
Really versatile fruit and very good if you know how to use it. Astringent types can be treated industrially to became the same as non astringent ones. Kaki is at least three totally different fruits in one.
All I know is the flatter (beefeater tomato shape) don’t need to ripen (soften before eating), the heart-shaped ones are fussy and you need to let them get soft before eating. I prefer the former type.
I know of a few persimmon trees along my running route in Maryland -- I'm not sure what kind, but they produce much smaller persimmons than I see in the store.
I occasionally taste them throughout fall and early winter. They seem to go from "deeply unpleasant" to "mildly unpleasant" to "I suppose I could make jam out of these if I added a lot of sugar".
They are very tasty, and can be eaten like a mini apple or pear. They taste like a combination between a pear and an apple. I used to have one in my home/garden.
...it is the baby of the rose family. This little tree produces small fruits in brown to rust color.
These fruits are similar to those of the wild rose, but larger in size.
Are you sure? The word sounds distinctly Turkish to my Greek ears [1].
It's funny but there's long-standing confusion between me and a friend regarding what a "musmulo" (singular) is. I know by that name a small, round, orange-yellow fruit with soft, tangy flesh and large-ish but very smooth stones - known in English as a loquat. I'm from Athens, but my friend who is from Corfu knows two things as musmula: the loquat and the medlar fruit.
I notice also in sister threads that there is some linguistic confusion about medlars and loquats in other places, e.g. two French users discuss whether "néflier" is the loquat or the medlar fruit, in French.
This year I was at my Corfiot friend's house in winter and they have medlar trees in their garden, so I had the opportunity to watch the bletting process in action, as it were. Basically my friend and my friend's dad picked a bunch of medlar fruit and put them in wicker baskets wrapped in newspaper. Then a few weeks later they ate some. To be honest, I didn't try them, because they looked and smelled ... rotten? I guess? My friend ate a few but some had actually gone bad and had to be chucked out. Strange fruit, really.
There are Modern Greek words that came into Greek from Turkish, but where the Turkish word comes from an Indo-European root (though it's not always clear if that is Greek or Persian).
Examples include karpouzi (watermelon, from Turkish karpuz, from either Persian xarbuz, "melon", or Greek karpos, "fruit").
We have a similar fruit in southern Italy. It's from the sorbus genus. It used to be consumed (almost) rotten during the months of December and January.
Sorbus trees are usually called "rowan" or "mountain ash" in English. And yep, they also need bletting to be at their best.
Mountain ash is a popular landscaping tree here. Birds (particularly waxwings) flock to them in winter when there's little else to eat (and presumably when the fruit has become less bitter, thanks to bletting).
Another Sorbus species is the Wild Service Tree, or Sorbus torminalis. The trees grow in England. The fruit is the chequerberry, which also needs bletting before it's edible. The flavour's similar to tamarind.
Growing up in south of france, we had a few of theses tree ("Néflier") scattered around the village. I really loved the fruits as a kid, it was a true delicacy. We had to wait until the first freeze in december, and pick them off the ground after bletting. they are really sweet, with a touch of alcool, and one of the few fruit you can find in the wild during the winter.
Now the title is a little bit misleading, they fell out of favor, and not widely available commercially, but definetly not forgotten.
I live in the South-east, and Néfles/Medlars start appearing now actually, tend to be ready in May, when they start turning from yellow to orange. In the summer they're all gone, maybe we're speaking about different species, I think here those Néfliers are 'Japan Medlars', so are not in the same cycle
Persimmons are ready between October and December. Agrums (like mandarines, clementines) from January to March.Figs in summer
Basically you can have something to pick all year long, if people can stop replacing trees by concrete
Not really. At least, if you hadn't been told in advance that the loquat was also called the "Japanese medlar", you probably wouldn't think they had anything more in common than a pear and a plum, or an apple and an apricot.
Loquats have a mild citrus-apricot flavor and a texture close to a somewhat meaty plum or cherry. When immature, they are very tart; when overripe, they are insipid; when just right, they can be great.
Medlar are only eaten when "bletted", which means that they've become browned and spoonably soft. They taste of overripe spiced stewed apple/pear/quince, although no spice has been added. When just right, they are "interesting".
Not. Loquat is a summer fruit that tastes tropical, like pineaple, acidic, juicy and refreshing. Texture similar to peach. Medlar is a winter fruit said to have the texture and flavor of a good apple cream.
Both trees are relatively similar in shape, but very different also in character. Lets say that Loquat "is a Magnolia" and Medlar "is an oak".
When I was still living in the East Bay, loquats were a favourite of mine!
They're planted all over the place, but it doesn't seem that people eat the fruit anymore. Easy to pick your fill when they're ripe. They aren't the best eating, but not half bad.
Yeah, the angle is strange. AFAIK people never stopped using medlar, at least in France. I remember my grandmother making pies, cakes, and jam with it when I was a kid. It might not be a very popular fruit (it’s difficult to sell it when it’s edible, and you’d have to convince people to eat what the’ drake for rotten fruit), but “forgotten” is a bit much.
In Morocco where I grew up, they are quite popular. But we don't wait for them to be rotten before we eat them. So maybe it's a different variety (In moroccan dialect they are called "Mezah")
Hmm. Some of us have heard of it via the original Disney animated Jungle Book, where it cameos in the song "Bear Necessities" (or is that "Bare Necessities?" Dual meaning and all that, forget which one is the canonical title.) Anyway, Phil Harris sings:
"Now when you pick a pawpaw / or a prickly pear / and if you prick a raw paw / well then next time, beware! Don't pick a prickly pear by the paw / when you pick a pear, try to use the claw. But you don't need to use the paw / when you pick a pear from a big pawpaw. Have I given you a clue?"
This may have placed me under the erroneous impression it was a tropical fruit.
To avoid confusion, the word "pawpaw" means very different things in different parts of the English-speaking world.
Outside of North America, "pawpaw" usually means what Americans call papaya -- and in some countries (like New Zealand) both "papaya" and "pawpaw" are used to refer to different varieties of what Americans call papayas.
I got a batch of medlars from a farm this last winter! We ate the first few too soon but the rest were amazing, and very late into the winter when we dont really have fruit besides apples. I'd love for these to become mainstream again.
A few months ago I had a jar of medlar jelly shipped over from the UK via Amazon. It was not cheap but very tasty; the flavor reminded me a bit of quince jelly, another pretty rare item in the US. I'd like to have it again sometime, maybe for a special occasion.
The rest of my medieval foods bucket list includes purslane and sorrel. It looks like I'll have to grow both of them from seeds as I have no hope of buying them from a store anytime soon.
Oh, you reminded me of quince jam. That used to be my favorite. I haven't seen any for over a decade, quince trees used to be common in my home country, but they fell out of favour for some reason and very few people grow them anymore.
Quince are naturally very high in pectin, so they were often grown to be added to other fruit as a thickener in jams. These days people just buy commercially produced pectin, or more likely, don't make jam at all.
Depending where you are, these may well already be growing wild or as weeds, they’re distributed pretty widely especially where euro crops are grown. Look out for nettle as well, it’s not bad at all.
I knew it would be the medlar before i clicked! Perhaps i spend too much time reading about rude fruit.
Anyway, it's a great little fruit, makes superb jelly and cheese (ie jelly with pulp, like a very thick jam). Somewhere between plum and date in flavour, perhaps.
I have a jar of my father's medlar cheese in the fridge, might go and pop a bit on some cheese ...
All these quotes form Jane Steward and they never link to her website. It's nice, makes the fruit look a bit more appetizing: https://eastgatelarder.co.uk/
My wife grew up in Belgium and has often mentioned medlar as a wonderful and absurd delicacy. I never had it and she seemed to find it strange that I didn't know of it. A few days ago she excitedly sent me this article. Yesterday we found out her parents have just planted medlar in their garden.
Weird Fruit Explorer just did an episode on these if you want to see what they're like: https://youtu.be/IKZsMNfRiRE
The whole channel is fascinating. Probably my favorite niche YouTube channel. I had no idea just how many edible fruits are out there and how strange many of them are. Makes me want to quit my job and travel around the world finding thousands of weird fruits to eat.
I was actually surprised by Dragon Fruit, recently. Not sure if you had it before. But the plant, is a cactus like vine. I went into a park in Hawaii. And saw it strangling a huge tree. No idea that it could grow like that.
The article says the medlar is "musmula" in Persian. Maybe, but if you're Iranian, you'll more likely know it as "marmala". Reading this, this sounds oddly like "marmalade", which according to Wikipedia, comes from the Portuguese. But unlike the English version of marmalade, which is made from citrus, the original Portuguese is made from quince, an Asian fruit. My guess is this was actually initially made from marmala, and quince as only a variant. What a wonderful etymological chase through the name of a fruit.
In Kosovo we call them “mushmulla”, they are quite common. As a kid used to eat a lot and I preferred them in their “unrotten” form since they were freely growing in the hills surrounding my town.
Oh man, i was wondering what this mysterious fruit was until I saw its mushmulla they are talking about. It's pretty common here in Kosovo and it can be found accross supermarkets.
Indeed you seem to be right, and now I'm not so sure about my claim.
What I learned from following around the ازگیل page is even more interesting. Those pages say it's known as "coonoos" in gilan, and "kenes", "kendes", or "kaandes" in mazandaran. I can't help but hear "quince" in these. Which happens to be in the same family.
The fact that jars of marmalade are usually labeled "orange marmalade" is a hint that it used to be made from something else, just like tomato ketchup was not always made with tomatoes. (Ketchup used to be a kind of fish sauce from Southeast Asia.)
In Dutch there's an expression 'zo rot als een mispel' (as rotten as a medlar). These days this means 'rotten to the core', so I was surprised to learn it originated from a fruit that supposedly tastes wonderful in this state. Although from the Dutch Wikipedia I gather it's more fermenting than rotting that's involved.
Funnily enough I stumbled upon such a tree while out for a walk in Surrey (UK) last November. Amazed to see a tree laden with fruit in winter, I loaded my rucksack thinking they were some kind of strange quince or something. It was only after a bit of internet research I discovered they were this weird medieval fruit called a Medlar. Out of curiosity I duly ‘bletted’ them and 4 or so weeks later turned them in to medlar-crumble slice. Would certainly agree they taste “like over-ripe dates mingled with lemons”. A lot of faff, but very delicious!
One of my favourite DH Lawrence poems is about these [0]! I’ve always wanted to taste one since I first read it. Perhaps as someone who has tasted them you’ll appreciate it.
I love you, rotten,
Delicious rottenness.
I love to suck you out from your skins
So brown and soft and coming suave,
So morbid, as the Italians say.
Theres a medlar tree growing in Waterford city (near the Bishops palace) I know an old guy who picks the fruit from it and makes jam.
Out of curiosity we picked a couple once, left them for a long time and tried them. They were ok.
There are a couple of these trees in my local park in London. I collect windfall fruit in the autumn. Nobody else seems to notice all the free fruit! I put them in a box in a closet for a month or so and then make jelly. It goes a really deep red colour and has a nice, unique flavour.
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[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 202 ms ] threadhttps://www.jstor.org/stable/4255177
https://sci-hub.do/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4255177
I read this by chance when it came out, and for a long while couldn't figure out whether it was a parody or a real scientific article. The whole story seemed so vastly improbable: a vulgar fruit central to Shakespeare that we've mostly forgotten about today, unable to be eaten until it's been rotted in sawdust for a few months --- pull the other one! Anyway, if the BBC article whets your interest in the medlar, you should definitely check out the full article. It's a gem.
* Non-climacteric fruits will only ripen on the plant. Strawberries are like this. They can turn more red after picking, but it's deceptive. They don't actually get sweeter.
* Most climacteric fruits will ripen either on or off the plant. I think bananas and apples are like this.
* Some climacteric fruits will only ripen after picking. Avocados are like this for sure. You have to wait until it's large enough to pick it (or it will never ripen) and wait a week or two after picking to eat it. Leaving it on the fruit for an extra week or two is no substitute for waiting after picking. There are probably other such fruits.
Took me too many years to discover this with my pear tree in the back yard.
However, I think many people are used to the taste of unripe pear - it's sweet enough, and quite crisp, and some people prefer them that way. As it sits on the counter, though, it becomes softer and sweeter over time.
There are two class of European pears classified by flesh texture: The 'beurre' type and the 'water' type. The beurre are very hard and dry first but then mature to a fine and almost fatty texture that melts in the mouth. Some can store well in cave for several months. The water pear type is juicy and much softer in all stages and is unsuitable to store more than a few weeks in summer.
Aren't ALL words made up?
https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mespilus_germanica
As we grow a lot of historic varieties of vegetables a "Mispel" was not so unusual for us.
Perhaps it's no coincidence that the article doesn't mention Germany at all, it might ruin the "forgotten" hook. (no you can't walk into a German supermarket and walk out with a bag full of Mispels, it's not that un-forgotten)
This is the supplier, basically the "industry giant" amongst the traditional distillers of the region (most others aren't full time occupations I think): https://www.destillerie-haas.com/epages/61827331.mobile/de_D...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loquat
A humorous research paper from 1989 gathered together some classic put-downs, including "At best, it is only one degree better than a rotten apple" – from a 19th Century gardening book – and "the medlar is not… worth a turd until it's ripe, and then it tastes like shit" – reportedly the opinion of an anonymous medieval author.
That means that some (very tasty) types of persimmon can be astringent or sweet when hard depending on whether they were pollinated, which is nearly impossible to tell just by looking at the fruit. The most well known categories of persimmons, at least in the US -- Fuyu types (PCNA) and Hachiya (PCA) -- are not pollination variant.
Do people do anything with the astringent types? Do they get better if I wait?
People also dry them -- there's a whole process for this (one link among many):
https://www.umami-insider.com/hoshigaki-japanese-dried-persi...
Hatchiya is the standard one in astringent types. 'Rojo brillante' is also very good. Saijo and Chocolate are also very famous but not so easy to find. All named varieties are astringent.
Yes, we do. Both have their own merits, but astringent types have a couple of serious advantages over non astringent, 1) they store much more sugar than the fuju types and 2) are untouched by insects or birds until ripe.
Really versatile fruit and very good if you know how to use it. Astringent types can be treated industrially to became the same as non astringent ones. Kaki is at least three totally different fruits in one.
I occasionally taste them throughout fall and early winter. They seem to go from "deeply unpleasant" to "mildly unpleasant" to "I suppose I could make jam out of these if I added a lot of sugar".
They are very tasty, and can be eaten like a mini apple or pear. They taste like a combination between a pear and an apple. I used to have one in my home/garden.
...it is the baby of the rose family. This little tree produces small fruits in brown to rust color.
These fruits are similar to those of the wild rose, but larger in size.
https://www.classlifestyle.com/news/39341/mucmolla-shqiptare...
This name is used in many Balkanic countries.
> It's still widely grown in Iran, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Turkey, where it's sold in markets as musmula.
Yup, that's the same word. Thanks, Ottomans.
It's funny but there's long-standing confusion between me and a friend regarding what a "musmulo" (singular) is. I know by that name a small, round, orange-yellow fruit with soft, tangy flesh and large-ish but very smooth stones - known in English as a loquat. I'm from Athens, but my friend who is from Corfu knows two things as musmula: the loquat and the medlar fruit.
I notice also in sister threads that there is some linguistic confusion about medlars and loquats in other places, e.g. two French users discuss whether "néflier" is the loquat or the medlar fruit, in French.
This year I was at my Corfiot friend's house in winter and they have medlar trees in their garden, so I had the opportunity to watch the bletting process in action, as it were. Basically my friend and my friend's dad picked a bunch of medlar fruit and put them in wicker baskets wrapped in newspaper. Then a few weeks later they ate some. To be honest, I didn't try them, because they looked and smelled ... rotten? I guess? My friend ate a few but some had actually gone bad and had to be chucked out. Strange fruit, really.
_____________
[1] All the rest of me is Greek also.
Examples include karpouzi (watermelon, from Turkish karpuz, from either Persian xarbuz, "melon", or Greek karpos, "fruit").
Mountain ash is a popular landscaping tree here. Birds (particularly waxwings) flock to them in winter when there's little else to eat (and presumably when the fruit has become less bitter, thanks to bletting).
Now the title is a little bit misleading, they fell out of favor, and not widely available commercially, but definetly not forgotten.
Persimmons are ready between October and December. Agrums (like mandarines, clementines) from January to March.Figs in summer
Basically you can have something to pick all year long, if people can stop replacing trees by concrete
Edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26612839 said it all, what I'm talking about are loquats, not medlars, we still call them "néfliers" though
Loquats have a mild citrus-apricot flavor and a texture close to a somewhat meaty plum or cherry. When immature, they are very tart; when overripe, they are insipid; when just right, they can be great.
Medlar are only eaten when "bletted", which means that they've become browned and spoonably soft. They taste of overripe spiced stewed apple/pear/quince, although no spice has been added. When just right, they are "interesting".
Both trees are relatively similar in shape, but very different also in character. Lets say that Loquat "is a Magnolia" and Medlar "is an oak".
They're planted all over the place, but it doesn't seem that people eat the fruit anymore. Easy to pick your fill when they're ripe. They aren't the best eating, but not half bad.
https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?t=1113054
The seeds make a good liqueur, too.
https://www.reddit.com/r/glassblowing/comments/1h5je5/my_lat...
Btw it's "mišpule" in Czech.
"Now when you pick a pawpaw / or a prickly pear / and if you prick a raw paw / well then next time, beware! Don't pick a prickly pear by the paw / when you pick a pear, try to use the claw. But you don't need to use the paw / when you pick a pear from a big pawpaw. Have I given you a clue?"
This may have placed me under the erroneous impression it was a tropical fruit.
1. Asimina (North American pawpaw)
2. Vasconcellea pubescens (Mountain pawpaw, South America)
3. Carica papaya (Papaya, Africa and Asia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annonacin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetogenin
There are some low annonacin varieties: Sunflower, Wabash, Potomac, Zimmerman, and Wells.
Outside of North America, "pawpaw" usually means what Americans call papaya -- and in some countries (like New Zealand) both "papaya" and "pawpaw" are used to refer to different varieties of what Americans call papayas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paw_Paw
The rest of my medieval foods bucket list includes purslane and sorrel. It looks like I'll have to grow both of them from seeds as I have no hope of buying them from a store anytime soon.
Quite tasty. I haven't grown it for a few years, but it's on my seed list now. Thanks for the reminder!
Quince jam and quince juice were great.
In this case there are good reasons to not consume it. Very similar to poisonous species for the untrained eye.
Anyway, it's a great little fruit, makes superb jelly and cheese (ie jelly with pulp, like a very thick jam). Somewhere between plum and date in flavour, perhaps.
I have a jar of my father's medlar cheese in the fridge, might go and pop a bit on some cheese ...
I thought this would have been a prime contributor to its vulgar name!
The whole channel is fascinating. Probably my favorite niche YouTube channel. I had no idea just how many edible fruits are out there and how strange many of them are. Makes me want to quit my job and travel around the world finding thousands of weird fruits to eat.
Are you sure? It looks like azgil (ازگیل).
What I learned from following around the ازگیل page is even more interesting. Those pages say it's known as "coonoos" in gilan, and "kenes", "kendes", or "kaandes" in mazandaran. I can't help but hear "quince" in these. Which happens to be in the same family.
https://tr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta_eri%C4%9Fi
[0] https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/148468/medlars-and-so...
I'm thinking of buying some Medlar jam too because I'm curious about it now.
Straight off the tree they are hard and barely edible.
Pick them from the tree and wait a week and they become soft and juicy.
They can make a whole series of articles, as they "discover" damsons, greengage, quince, mulberries, gooseberries, etc.
(Between my parents, grandparents, and places like the car park at the back of my mum's office, we picked all of these in England.)
There are plenty of results on British websites for medlar trees (for gardeners) and recipes for the fruit.