”A fruit that sits on this forgotten shrub often sat in old kitchen gardens. Cultivated since Roman times has a number of “vulgar” nicknames… I don’t think they are that bad just very descriptive. My favourite is “Tudor-Arse Fruit” or “Open-Arse Fruit”
GeorgeFlavour Fred
The homeland of this plant is said to be Balkan peninsula surrounding areas of the Black Sea and more. This is important as the process for this fruit to grow and ripen requires temperatures of 20 degrees but the the fruit is hardy to frost. Also important as the very low temperatures (-20) make the fruit break down through a process called “bletting”.
As you can see I used my freezer for this process to kick it off which I allowed to defrost and re-freeze several times. The purpose reduces the tannin content and fruit acids, the sugar content increases and many changes take place under this natural process. The flavour is like a toffee apple and reminds me of dates. So I’ve made a sauce here that I’m going to bake into a sticky toffee pudding with a fermented noble fir cone syrup for my sessions this weekend.
* 400g medlars (bletted, baked, passed through a sieve for a pulp)
* 250ml soya plant based alternative to milk
* 100ml water
* 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
* 115g dairy-free spread
* 115g soft brown sugar
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 200g self-raising flour
* pinch ground nutmeg
* ½ tsp ground ginger
* ½ tsp ground cinnamon
The medlars were frozen and defrosted a few time then baked (covered) with the water and sugar. The medlars have 5 seeds so I blended it enough to pass through a sieve and use as a pulp. Once cooled I mixed well with the rest of the ingredients and baked in a lined tin at 180 degrees for 30 minutes. Checking it’s baked like a sponge with a toothpick or knife. Looking for them to come out clean. Cool sliced and served with my fermented noble fir molasses (available in shop and post soon) and plant based cream.
