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Must be bletted is softened for weeks — first.
Tastes of spiced apple, date and wine; an old Persian fruit now rarely sold.
Picked hard in autumn, then left for weeks to soften before it can be eaten.
Known to botanists as Mespilus germanica.
Medlar is a reminder that ripeness isn't always something the tree finishes. Some foods need time and patience after the harvest — a slow habit worth keeping.
Soft, spoonable and easy to eat, medlar suits anyone who finds hard fruit difficult. Its pectin and gentle sweetness make it a kind autumn fruit for an older digestion.
Low in sugar for how sweet it tastes.
A medlar is a small russet-brown fruit, wider than it is tall, with a wide open crown at the base ringed by dried sepals. Hard and sour when picked, it's only eaten after it softens to a brown paste.
Family: Rosaceae (rose family).
Persian temperament: Cold & Dry (2nd degree). Astringent (tightens tissue and leaves a dry feeling in the mouth) and drying while hard, softening as it blets. Old practice gave it for loose bowels.
Persian medicine reads azgil as cold and dry, and used it to bind a loose stomach and quiet nausea. It was thought to strengthen a weak digestion rather than to nourish, and was given in small amounts.
Eaten in small quantities as an autumn digestive fruit.
Pectin (a soft fibre in fruit that thickens jam) and tannins (plant compounds that give a dry, puckering taste), traditionally used to settle a loose stomach.
In Gilan and Mazandaran, azgil is an autumn street fruit, sold from carts once the first cold nights have softened it. In medieval Europe it was one of the few fresh fruits available deep into winter.
Primary compounds
Vitamin C; phenolic acids.
Other notable constituents
Minerals: Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Iron · Antioxidants: Chlorogenic acid, Catechins (plant compounds common in green tea)
From laboratory work, not from people taking it
Mespilus germanica fruit is rich in phenolics and tannins, with antioxidant activity that falls as the fruit blets. Rated: early research.
What studies in people show
Dietary tannins reduce stool frequency in mild diarrhoea in small clinical studies. Rated: early research.
In the kitchen: pick after the first frost, or freeze overnight. Lay it crown-down in straw or paper, somewhere cool. Ready in two to four weeks, when the skin wrinkles and the flesh browns. Bletted, eaten with a spoon from the skin. Sieved into jelly or a firm paste; blet, then scoop the pulp out with a spoon.
Serve the pulp with walnuts and tea after a meal.
Walnut
Spoon soft medlar straight onto toasted walnuts. The fruit is sweet and grainy and needs something with an edge.
Honey
Half a spoon lifts a fruit that can taste flat once it has softened right through.
Cinnamon
The spice is already half there in the flavour, so a pinch simply finishes what the fruit started.
Yogurt
Stirred through thick yogurt it becomes a winter breakfast rather than a curiosity.
Bletting is a controlled ripening, not spoilage — but mould or a sour smell means the fruit has gone over.
Traditional stomach uses are folk practice; persistent digestive symptoms need a doctor.
Unbletted fruit is astringent enough to be unpleasant and can upset the stomach.
The seeds, like apple and apricot seeds, should not be eaten or crushed.
Medicines taken by mouth — Very astringent unripe fruit can slow absorption if eaten in quantity at the same time. Space them by an hour if you eat a lot. (low concern)
Diabetes medicine — Ripe medlar is sweeter than it looks. Count it as fruit rather than as a free food. (low concern)
Pregnancy and breastfeeding
An ordinary autumn fruit in food amounts. Only eat it fully bletted, because the hard unripe fruit is harsh enough to upset any stomach.
Children
The stones are large and hard, so the pulp must be sieved for young children. Most children find the brown appearance stranger than the taste.
Older adults
Soft, spoonable and needing no chewing, which makes it one of the easier fruits for anyone with poor teeth. Its old use for loose bowels still holds in practice.
Spring
Blossom only. The fruit is months away.
Summer
Fruit swells but stays rock hard and inedible. Leave it on the tree.
Autumn
Picked after the first frost, then laid out to soften. Nothing about this fruit is quick.
Winter
Now it's food. The flesh has gone brown and soft and tastes of spiced apple butter.
Is bletting the same as rotting?
No. It is a controlled softening. Mould or a sour smell means the fruit has spoiled.
Why don't shops sell it?
It can't be sold ready to eat, and few people know how to wait for it.
End of the Medlar guide