A friend gave me some medlars to have a go at making jelly from this very old fashioned fruit. Picked when still hard and green, you leave them in a cool place until they have bletted. That means they ripen until they are soft, brown and a bit squishy. When you bite into a green medlar they are incredibly astringent and inedible, once bletted they lose that astringency but still don’t taste great, a cross between earthy leaf mold and rotten pear. On line there are heaps of recipes, I followed the basic jelly recipe of:
- In a large pot put fruit, a roughly chopped lemon and apple (for extra pectin) and barely cover with water.
- Bring slowly to the boil then simmer until the fruit is very mushy and water has lots of flavour (mine took about half an hour.)
- Strain fruit through a cloth bag, don’t squeeze (but I always do) and save the juice.
- Measure juice into a pot by the cup full. Bring to the boil then add the same number cups of sugar.
- Boil until it’s ready to set, then pour into sterilised jars.
The resulting medlar jelly is a dark pink, a bit tart and has an amazing flavour. It set really well so I think medlars must have lots of pectin by themselves. It’s a bit like a strong quince jelly but more tasty.
‘Fragrant’ Medlar Jelly
