MEDLAR TREE
Mespilus, commonly called medlar, are deciduous large shrubs to small trees growing up to 8 metres (26 ft) tall, of the family Rosaceae. The fruit is a pome, matte brown in M. germanica and glossy red in M. canescens.
History
Mespilus germanica is apparently native only to southwest Asia and southeastern Europe, i.e. near the Black Sea coast and western Mediterranean, and Asia Minor, as well as the Caucasus and northern Iran, but it has an ancient history of cultivation and wild plants exist in a much wider area; it was grown by the ancient Greeks and Romans, beginning in the second century BC. Mespilus germanica was a very popular fruit in Western Europe during the Victorian era but has fallen out of favour there.
Fruit
Mespilus germanica features an unusual apple-like fruit. In southern Europe the medlar fruits ripen fully and can be eaten off the tree, but in northern climates they require bletting to eat.
Cultivation notes
Medlars tolerate most soils, unless very chalky or badly drained, but grow best in a deep, fertile, well-drained soil. They will do best in a warm, sheltered site in sun but can be grown in partial shade. Leaves and flowers are easily damaged by strong winds.
Trees are self-fertile, so there is no need to worry about pollination groups and only a single tree need be grown to produce fruit. If planting a new tree, ideally do so between November and March, and if planting more than one, allow 4.5m (15ft) between each tree. Stake trees for the first three or four years.
In March apply a general fertiliser over the rooting area. After applying fertiliser, mulch with well-rotted farmyard manure or compost.
Adequate moisture is essential to obtain strong growth and good cropping, and young trees in particular should be watered well during dry spells in spring and summer for the first three or four years.
Pruning and training
In a garden setting, medlars need annual pruning in winter to maintain a healthy shape and encourage good flowering and fruiting. Prune as follows:
For the first three or four years cut back the longest upwards growing shoots or leaders, of the main framework branches by about one-third of the previous summer’s growth, always pruning back to an outward-facing bud
Cut back to two or three buds from the point of origin, any badly placed shoots that cross over the centre. The aim is to achieve an open-centred, well-spaced branch framework
Leave short shoots unpruned but remove poorly placed or crowded longer branches
After the fourth year, lightly winter prune to keep an open framework, removing any crowded, diseased or dead branches. Mature trees do not respond well to hard pruning
Nigel Slater extols the virtues of a little-appreciated fruit.
Medlar trees are ideal: growing to a manageable height with beautiful blossom in spring, a handsome mantle of leaves from May onward and, in autumn, golden foliage and unusual and edible fruits. Each autumn it provides enough to make a couple of jars of amber-coloured jelly with which to accompany roast meats and flavour gravies.
My own tree is not much taller than myself but has a large, sprawling canopy and a good show of fragile, single, white flowers that opens shortly after the nearby apple has finished. I value any fruit tree that extends the blossom season. Some cultivars of medlar – like apples, members of the rose family – can be unruly, but these can be pruned easily in late autumn to keep them in shape. My tree offers shelter too, providing light cover for my cabbage patch.
In Medieval times, medlar was known as the ‘dog’s bottom’ tree, a name that appears rude until you inspect the fruit and realise how accurate the description was. ‘Medlar’ is a later name derived from the French language.
Harvesting and using the fruit
I watch my medlars getting fatter all summer. Once I feel the smallest amount of ‘give’ in their flesh, I harvest most of the crop then leave it in a cool place for a few weeks. Others leave theirs on the tree and let the frosts blacken the fruits. The time taken depends on the temperature and humidity of the room and the exact point at which you harvest; I find two or three weeks in a cool room is adequate. Once their skins are purplish-black, their flesh is soft and they smell slightly ‘winey’, they are ready.
This is not, it has to be said, the most versatile of kitchen ingredients, though it was once taken medicinally, as a cure for an upset stomach. You can bake the fruits whole, though they are a fiddle to eat even with the smallest of teaspoons, but their main use is in a softly set, golden-brown preserve. It gives a faintly sharp, aromatic jelly, variously said to taste winey, cidery or like apples and cinnamon, that flatters meat and game. Medlar jelly is rare and can be difficult to find in shops and markets, so we have every reason to make it for ourselves.
The jelly was a popular preserve on Victorian tables, but has since fallen from fashion. This may well be because the fruit has to be ‘bletted’, the process of leaving the harvested fruits to blacken until they are on the verge of rotting. This removes their acute acidity and renders them soft enough for jelly making. To blet medlars, place the whole fruits on a shallow plate in a single layer; do not pile them up. Leave them at cool room temperature until they turn deep brown and are soft to the touch. They are then ready to cook or eat. Without this process medlars are too acidic to be palatable and too hard to produce juice (although the best flavoured jelly seems to result from adding a few unripe fruits, too).
At this point you can either scoop their creamy flesh out with a spoon, bake them until their texture is similar to a baked apple, or add sugar and use them to make the gloriously hued preserve.
Mespilus, commonly called medlar, are deciduous large shrubs to small trees growing up to 8 metres (26 ft) tall, of the family Rosaceae. The fruit is a pome, matte brown in M. germanica and glossy red in M. canescens.
History
Mespilus germanica is apparently native only to southwest Asia and southeastern Europe, i.e. near the Black Sea coast and western Mediterranean, and Asia Minor, as well as the Caucasus and northern Iran, but it has an ancient history of cultivation and wild plants exist in a much wider area; it was grown by the ancient Greeks and Romans, beginning in the second century BC. Mespilus germanica was a very popular fruit in Western Europe during the Victorian era but has fallen out of favour there.
Fruit
Mespilus germanica features an unusual apple-like fruit. In southern Europe the medlar fruits ripen fully and can be eaten off the tree, but in northern climates they require bletting to eat.
Cultivation notes
Medlars tolerate most soils, unless very chalky or badly drained, but grow best in a deep, fertile, well-drained soil. They will do best in a warm, sheltered site in sun but can be grown in partial shade. Leaves and flowers are easily damaged by strong winds.
Trees are self-fertile, so there is no need to worry about pollination groups and only a single tree need be grown to produce fruit. If planting a new tree, ideally do so between November and March, and if planting more than one, allow 4.5m (15ft) between each tree. Stake trees for the first three or four years.
In March apply a general fertiliser over the rooting area. After applying fertiliser, mulch with well-rotted farmyard manure or compost.
Adequate moisture is essential to obtain strong growth and good cropping, and young trees in particular should be watered well during dry spells in spring and summer for the first three or four years.
Pruning and training
In a garden setting, medlars need annual pruning in winter to maintain a healthy shape and encourage good flowering and fruiting. Prune as follows:
For the first three or four years cut back the longest upwards growing shoots or leaders, of the main framework branches by about one-third of the previous summer’s growth, always pruning back to an outward-facing bud
Cut back to two or three buds from the point of origin, any badly placed shoots that cross over the centre. The aim is to achieve an open-centred, well-spaced branch framework
Leave short shoots unpruned but remove poorly placed or crowded longer branches
After the fourth year, lightly winter prune to keep an open framework, removing any crowded, diseased or dead branches. Mature trees do not respond well to hard pruning
Nigel Slater extols the virtues of a little-appreciated fruit.
Medlar trees are ideal: growing to a manageable height with beautiful blossom in spring, a handsome mantle of leaves from May onward and, in autumn, golden foliage and unusual and edible fruits. Each autumn it provides enough to make a couple of jars of amber-coloured jelly with which to accompany roast meats and flavour gravies.
My own tree is not much taller than myself but has a large, sprawling canopy and a good show of fragile, single, white flowers that opens shortly after the nearby apple has finished. I value any fruit tree that extends the blossom season. Some cultivars of medlar – like apples, members of the rose family – can be unruly, but these can be pruned easily in late autumn to keep them in shape. My tree offers shelter too, providing light cover for my cabbage patch.
In Medieval times, medlar was known as the ‘dog’s bottom’ tree, a name that appears rude until you inspect the fruit and realise how accurate the description was. ‘Medlar’ is a later name derived from the French language.
Harvesting and using the fruit
I watch my medlars getting fatter all summer. Once I feel the smallest amount of ‘give’ in their flesh, I harvest most of the crop then leave it in a cool place for a few weeks. Others leave theirs on the tree and let the frosts blacken the fruits. The time taken depends on the temperature and humidity of the room and the exact point at which you harvest; I find two or three weeks in a cool room is adequate. Once their skins are purplish-black, their flesh is soft and they smell slightly ‘winey’, they are ready.
This is not, it has to be said, the most versatile of kitchen ingredients, though it was once taken medicinally, as a cure for an upset stomach. You can bake the fruits whole, though they are a fiddle to eat even with the smallest of teaspoons, but their main use is in a softly set, golden-brown preserve. It gives a faintly sharp, aromatic jelly, variously said to taste winey, cidery or like apples and cinnamon, that flatters meat and game. Medlar jelly is rare and can be difficult to find in shops and markets, so we have every reason to make it for ourselves.
The jelly was a popular preserve on Victorian tables, but has since fallen from fashion. This may well be because the fruit has to be ‘bletted’, the process of leaving the harvested fruits to blacken until they are on the verge of rotting. This removes their acute acidity and renders them soft enough for jelly making. To blet medlars, place the whole fruits on a shallow plate in a single layer; do not pile them up. Leave them at cool room temperature until they turn deep brown and are soft to the touch. They are then ready to cook or eat. Without this process medlars are too acidic to be palatable and too hard to produce juice (although the best flavoured jelly seems to result from adding a few unripe fruits, too).
At this point you can either scoop their creamy flesh out with a spoon, bake them until their texture is similar to a baked apple, or add sugar and use them to make the gloriously hued preserve.
Nigel Slater extols the virtues of a little-appreciated fruit.
Medlar trees are ideal: growing to a manageable height with beautiful blossom in spring, a handsome mantle of leaves from May onward and, in autumn, golden foliage and unusual and edible fruits. Each autumn it provides enough to make a couple of jars of amber-coloured jelly with which to accompany roast meats and flavour gravies.
My own tree is not much taller than myself but has a large, sprawling canopy and a good show of fragile, single, white flowers that opens shortly after the nearby apple has finished. I value any fruit tree that extends the blossom season. Some cultivars of medlar – like apples, members of the rose family – can be unruly, but these can be pruned easily in late autumn to keep them in shape. My tree offers shelter too, providing light cover for my cabbage patch.
In Medieval times, medlar was known as the ‘dog’s bottom’ tree, a name that appears rude until you inspect the fruit and realise how accurate the description was. ‘Medlar’ is a later name derived from the French language.
Harvesting and using the fruit
I watch my medlars getting fatter all summer. Once I feel the smallest amount of ‘give’ in their flesh, I harvest most of the crop then leave it in a cool place for a few weeks. Others leave theirs on the tree and let the frosts blacken the fruits. The time taken depends on the temperature and humidity of the room and the exact point at which you harvest; I find two or three weeks in a cool room is adequate. Once their skins are purplish-black, their flesh is soft and they smell slightly ‘winey’, they are ready.
This is not, it has to be said, the most versatile of kitchen ingredients, though it was once taken medicinally, as a cure for an upset stomach. You can bake the fruits whole, though they are a fiddle to eat even with the smallest of teaspoons, but their main use is in a softly set, golden-brown preserve. It gives a faintly sharp, aromatic jelly, variously said to taste winey, cidery or like apples and cinnamon, that flatters meat and game. Medlar jelly is rare and can be difficult to find in shops and markets, so we have every reason to make it for ourselves.
The jelly was a popular preserve on Victorian tables, but has since fallen from fashion. This may well be because the fruit has to be ‘bletted’, the process of leaving the harvested fruits to blacken until they are on the verge of rotting. This removes their acute acidity and renders them soft enough for jelly making. To blet medlars, place the whole fruits on a shallow plate in a single layer; do not pile them up. Leave them at cool room temperature until they turn deep brown and are soft to the touch. They are then ready to cook or eat. Without this process medlars are too acidic to be palatable and too hard to produce juice (although the best flavoured jelly seems to result from adding a few unripe fruits, too).
At this point you can either scoop their creamy flesh out with a spoon, bake them until their texture is similar to a baked apple, or add sugar and use them to make the gloriously hued preserve.
Medlar trees are ideal: growing to a manageable height with beautiful blossom in spring, a handsome mantle of leaves from May onward and, in autumn, golden foliage and unusual and edible fruits. Each autumn it provides enough to make a couple of jars of amber-coloured jelly with which to accompany roast meats and flavour gravies.
My own tree is not much taller than myself but has a large, sprawling canopy and a good show of fragile, single, white flowers that opens shortly after the nearby apple has finished. I value any fruit tree that extends the blossom season. Some cultivars of medlar – like apples, members of the rose family – can be unruly, but these can be pruned easily in late autumn to keep them in shape. My tree offers shelter too, providing light cover for my cabbage patch.
In Medieval times, medlar was known as the ‘dog’s bottom’ tree, a name that appears rude until you inspect the fruit and realise how accurate the description was. ‘Medlar’ is a later name derived from the French language.
Harvesting and using the fruit
I watch my medlars getting fatter all summer. Once I feel the smallest amount of ‘give’ in their flesh, I harvest most of the crop then leave it in a cool place for a few weeks. Others leave theirs on the tree and let the frosts blacken the fruits. The time taken depends on the temperature and humidity of the room and the exact point at which you harvest; I find two or three weeks in a cool room is adequate. Once their skins are purplish-black, their flesh is soft and they smell slightly ‘winey’, they are ready.
This is not, it has to be said, the most versatile of kitchen ingredients, though it was once taken medicinally, as a cure for an upset stomach. You can bake the fruits whole, though they are a fiddle to eat even with the smallest of teaspoons, but their main use is in a softly set, golden-brown preserve. It gives a faintly sharp, aromatic jelly, variously said to taste winey, cidery or like apples and cinnamon, that flatters meat and game. Medlar jelly is rare and can be difficult to find in shops and markets, so we have every reason to make it for ourselves.
The jelly was a popular preserve on Victorian tables, but has since fallen from fashion. This may well be because the fruit has to be ‘bletted’, the process of leaving the harvested fruits to blacken until they are on the verge of rotting. This removes their acute acidity and renders them soft enough for jelly making. To blet medlars, place the whole fruits on a shallow plate in a single layer; do not pile them up. Leave them at cool room temperature until they turn deep brown and are soft to the touch. They are then ready to cook or eat. Without this process medlars are too acidic to be palatable and too hard to produce juice (although the best flavoured jelly seems to result from adding a few unripe fruits, too).
At this point you can either scoop their creamy flesh out with a spoon, bake them until their texture is similar to a baked apple, or add sugar and use them to make the gloriously hued preserve.