Medlar fruit taste test

Back in early summer I blogged about our Medlar tree, though we still weren't 100% sure about its identification.

It's bright red now (see picture above) - the leaves turn a beautiful colour, and there's quite a lot of fruit left on it.

Anyway, according to Wikipedia, "Medlar fruit are very hard and acidic. They become edible after being softened ("bletted") by frost, or naturally in storage given sufficient time. Once softening begins, the skin rapidly takes a wrinkled texture and turns dark brown, and the inside reduces to a consistency and flavour reminiscent of apple sauce."

We've certainly had frost now and we tasted the fruit again a few days ago and it is completely different! A really unusual taste, that's hard to define. But yes, not unlike apple sauce. It's a bit like eating sweets.

I think that confirms its identity.