Cultivated for possibly 3000 years, this shrub or small tree is mentioned in the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans, being indigenous to Iran, south west Asia, and south east Europe, especially the Black Sea coasts of Bulgaria and Turkey. Its Latin name is due to a theory that the Romans introduced it to what is now Germany, whence it spread throughout Europe; and later, by European colonists, to North America. There are some naturalised trees in southern England, but in medieval times it was widely grown in the UK as a fruit tree. It is now generally considered ornamental here, although it is also commercially grown by Tiptree, the long-established jam and jelly manufacturers.
Medlars are slow growing shrubs or small trees, with large white flowers and late-ripening fruit. They thrive in full sun, in a temperate climate, with shelter from strong winds; and also need moist, well drained soil. They are self-fertile and pollinated by bees. The fruits aren’t generally harvested until October or even November. They are hard and inedible when first picked, and are left to ripen – or over-ripen – for a few weeks, when the flesh becomes brown and soft. This process is known as ‘bletting’, a word devised by a Victorian botanist, John Lindley. A bletted medlar is shown below:
Mespilus germanica was for a long time the only known species of medlar, but in 1990 a very small number of trees was discovered in North America and named Mespilus canescens, though there is a theory that it is a hybrid of the known tree and a North American species of Crataegus (hawthorn, on which the common medlar is often grafted).
Medicinal uses
Far from remaining in the Middle Ages, medlar is still used as medicine. An academic paper published in the Journal of Medicinal Plants in 2012 describes research, in the tree’s native Iran, into the medicinal use of the plant by the local people (aged over 50).
They found that the leaves, fruit and bark are all used to treat conditions of the intestinal tract such as diarrhoea, stomach bloating, and infection;
the fruit to treat menstrual problems;
the bark to reduce fever;
and the leaves as a gargle for throat and other oral abscesses.
Other properties described were ‘strengthening of fine skin’ and ‘strengthen nerves’.
Other recent researchers, also from countries where the tree is native, have extracted phenolic acids and flavonoids from the bark and leaves. These compounds are known to clear cells of potentially harmful chemicals related to cardiovascular disease and cancers. More research and development are still needed, but medlar could be a useful and affordable dietary supplement in these countries, which are traditionally very poor.
Medlar bark has been tried as a substitute for quinine, but the results are inconclusive.
WARNING Medlar seeds are poisonous: they contain the toxin hydrocyanic acid.
Culinary uses
Medlars, like quince, are commonly made into jams, jellies, ‘pastes’ and chutneys. Such jellies, frequent accompaniments to meats and cheese, were commonly used in British and European cookery throughout the Middle Ages and into Victorian times. Tiptree, modern day producers of medlar jelly, describe it as having a rich red colour and the flavour of a spiced apple. They recommend using it in place of apple sauce.
The fruit can also be eaten raw, as the Victorians did, sweetened with sugar and served with cream, or blended with eggs and butter to make a sweet spread (like lemon curd).
The chef Nigel Slater, quoted in The Guardian, suggests a different dessert using medlars. They can be baked in a hot oven until “tender and fruitily fragrant”, served with cream and eaten with a small spoon; though he admits that they are “fiddly to eat”!
Myth and Magic
In French folklore the medlar was said to protect the home from enchantment.
In Britain, references to medlars can be found in writers from the 14thCentury onward, including Chaucer and Shakespeare. Medlar fruits, deriving from their shape, were known as “open-arses”. (In French too, their word being cul-de-chien: dog’s arse). Many Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights and poets used this common name for medlar in rude – and lewd – puns and other humorous writing.
Acknowledgements – thanks, for much information above, to the following:
http://www.beeculture.com
http://www.pfaf.org
http://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com
http://www.rhs.org
http://www.theguardian.com
http://www.tiptree.com
http://www.deptfordpudding.com
(for the picture of a bletted medlar)
http://www.academicjournals.org
(for the article Medicinal benefits and usage of medlar (Mespilus germanica) in…Iran
by Bibalani and Mosazadeh-Sayadmahaleh)
