34. Nottingham Medlar
Season : harvest from October, store until soft
Pollination: Self fertile.
Mespilus germanica 'Nottingham'
A hugely underrated variety of fruit that has a sublime apple-pear sauce flavour and texture
As a tree it is highly ornamental - with its intricate twisting stems and dark green foliage. In Spring it is a picture of simple white flowers, which give way to the unusual fruits .
Fresh from the tree in early Autumn the fruits are hard and sour to taste - and so they need to be bletted before they can be eaten raw or used for making sauces or jellies.
Bletting is simply allowing the fruit to mature and soften. (NOT rot!)
This can be done by leaving them on the tree, or harvesting and keeping in a cool place until they are brown and soft, and the fruit can be squeezed out of the skin as a thick ‘sauce’.
The flavour is sweet and caramely, with a hint of cold tea.
Elizabethans and Victorians were real fans of this fruit.
Not the prettiest of fruits, it was commonly known as the 'Dog's Arse Fruit' !!