Article 13562 of rec.gardens:
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From: bbeer@stein.u.washington.edu (Bob Beer)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Medlar Trees:  Sources?
Message-ID: <1lcf30INNdng@shelley.u.washington.edu>
Date: 11 Feb 93 02:53:20 GMT
Article-I.D.: shelley.1lcf30INNdng
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I got to like medlars in Europe, and actually found an old tree of them here
in Seattle. But I have no idea where to acquire one for my own yard - has
anybody seen them offered in any catalogs?

For those who don't know - a medlar is a fruit in the Rosaceae (same family as
apples, pears and quinces, etc) which is about 2" long at the biggest.  They
are brown, and the sepals persist on the fruit like 1/2 inch long "tentacles".
The fruits are astringent when fresh - when they ripen in the autumn, they
are "bletted" - put in a cool place on straw, and left until they go brown.
This takes about 3 weeks - once they start, (first a little spot will start
to soften, and within about 2 days the whole thing is soft and wrinkled).
You eat them by squeezing them and just sucking the inside out. (The skin is
sort of tough.)  They taste sort of like a very fragrant applesauce with
quince overtones.  Hard to describe.  


