Medlar

Medlar: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Small tree of 3–6 m with a broad, twisted crown, often as wide as it is tall; sometimes a large shrub.

Leaf

Alternate, 8–15 cm, lance-shaped, untoothed or very finely toothed near the tip, dull green and softly hairy; yellow to reddish-brown autumn colour.

Bark

Greyish-brown, flaking in long plates. Wild forms are thorny.

Flower

Large white flowers (3–5 cm), borne singly at the shoot tips, late May.

Fruit

Brown, apple-shaped fruits (2–5 cm) with a wide opening and five sepals. Only edible once they have turned soft and brown after frost or some time in storage.

Difference from quince

Quince has untoothed leaves with a white-felted underside and large, yellow, downy fruits.

Flowering: May–June · Harvest and fruit: October–November · Pruning: December–February

Identify by feature: Long, narrow leaves · White blossom

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Quince Cydonia oblonga: untoothed leaves with a white-felted underside and large, yellow, downy fruits. Difference from quince

Why grow it?

• Fresh fruit in late autumn and winter, when there is little else to harvest.
• A graceful small tree whose twisted branches look good in winter too.
• Large white flowers in late May for bees, after most night frosts.
• Self-fertile: one tree is enough for fruit.
• Needs little pruning and little care.

Medlar: where does it grow best?

• Sun to partial shade; it flowers and fruits best in full sun.
• Any well-drained soil that neither dries out nor stays wet for long.
• Allow 4–5 m across: it spreads wide.
• Lovely as a specimen in a lawn, in a small orchard or at the edge of a patio.

Light

Sun or partial shade

Legal basis

Any garden soil

Moisture

Normal

Size

5 m tall, 5 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Quince: Another old fruit harvested in late autumn: together a ‘forgotten fruit’ corner.
• Cornelian cherry: Flowers as early as February–March and bears edible red fruit: your fruit corner starts early.
• Dog rose: Flowers in June and hips in autumn: with the medlar, a border full of food for bees and birds.

Good and bad companions

Best kept away from

• Fruit trees that can catch fireblight from this plant: apple, pear, nashi pear

Medlar: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant from November to March, bare-root or root-balled; a container-grown tree can go in all year, except in frost or drought.
2. Dig a generous planting hole and mix in some compost.
3. Most medlars are grafted onto hawthorn, quince or pear: keep the graft union above the soil.
4. Put a stake on the windward side and tie the trunk loosely.
5. Varieties such as ‘Westerveld’ give large fruit, ‘Nottingham’ smaller but tasty ones.

Care

Watering

In dry spells during the first two years; after that only in long, dry summers.

Feeding

In March, some compost under the crown; nothing more is needed.

Harvest

Pick the fruit in late October–November on a dry day, before hard frost, when the leaves start to fall.

Bletting

Lay them ‘eye’ down on straw or a rack in a cool place. After 2–4 weeks they are brown and soft: they are then bletted and ready to eat.

Tip: Eat a bletted medlar with a teaspoon: squeeze the soft flesh out of the skin and leave the hard pips behind.

Medlar: when to prune it?

Pruning months: December–February.

When: In winter, not in frost.

How:

• Prune little: it naturally grows twisted and broad. Remove dead wood and crossing branches.
• In the first years, train a young tree to a trunk with 3–5 well-spaced main branches.
• If the crown gets too dense, remove a few whole branches rather than shortening all the twigs: that way you keep the flowers at the shoot tips.

Caution: Don’t prune in frost, and disinfect your secateurs when cutting out diseased branches.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Grafting

A variety is propagated by grafting a twig in winter onto a hawthorn, quince or pear rootstock.

Sowing

The seed germinates slowly and erratically and may give a thorny tree with smaller fruit: fun to try, but not a way to reproduce a variety.

Medlar: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy; the late flowering in late May usually escapes night frost.
• The fruit still hangs on the tree after leaf fall; whatever you leave is winter food for birds.

Diseases and pests

• Leaf blight: Brown spots on the leaves and early leaf fall, especially in wet summers. Clear up fallen leaves and keep the crown airy.
• Caterpillars: Winter moth caterpillars feed on the young leaves in April–May. Tits eat lots of them: put up a nest box nearby.
• Fireblight: Flowers and shoot tips wilt and turn black, as if scorched. Cut affected shoots well back into healthy wood and disinfect your secateurs.

Through the year

• January: Winter pruning in mild weather; eat the last bletted medlars.
• February: Winter pruning; planting in open weather.
• March: Compost under the crown.
• May: Flowering in late May: large white flowers for bees.
• October: Autumn colour; the fruit is fully grown.
• November: Harvest and leave to blet in a cool place; planting.
• December: Winter pruning; eat soft medlars or cook them into jelly.

What can you use it for?

Food and drink

Medlars after the first frost or after a spell in storage (once soft and brown): fresh, in jelly or as a purée.

Garden and landscape

Graceful small tree with large flowers and fine autumn colour.

For wildlife

Flowers for bees; the fruit for birds in winter.

Edible and useful

Fruit (October–November)

Pick medlars at the end of October or in November, ideally after the first night frost, while they are still hard. Let them ‘blet’ indoors for a few weeks on a layer of straw or newspaper, until they are brown and as soft as apple sauce. Then spoon the sweet-sour flesh, tasting of apple and date, straight out of the skin, leaving the large seeds. Also for purée and jelly, with game or cheese.

Storing

Store hard medlars somewhere cool and airy, eye down and not touching. Check them weekly: use soft fruit at once and throw away any that turn mouldy. The flesh can be frozen.

Caution: Only eat medlars when they are completely soft and brown: hard, unripe fruit is very astringent. Brown flesh is normal in a medlar, but discard fruit that is mouldy or smells sour or of alcohol. Do not eat the seeds.

Eating and using is at your own risk: see the terms of use.

Recipes

• Medlar jelly (Jelly · ± 3 jars · 1 hour + overnight draining)
• Medlar purée (Compote · 4 people · 20 min)
• Medlar chutney (Other · ± 3 jars of 250 ml · 1 hr 15 min + 2 weeks maturing)
• Medlar and cinnamon cake (Dish · 1 loaf cake of 25 cm · 25 min + 50 min oven)

Good for wildlife

Bees

Nectar and pollen for honeybees and wild bees.

Birds

Berries, seeds or insects as food, or a place to nest.

Did you know?

• A medieval fruit tree that provided fresh fruit in winter: medlars only become tasty after the first frost.
• The medlar comes from south-west Asia and south-east Europe; the Romans brought it to western Europe, where it has naturalised here and there.
• The Basques make their traditional walking stick, the makila, from tough medlar wood.
• Despite the name germanica, the medlar originally comes from south-west Asia and south-east Europe; the Romans spread it further across Europe.
• The medlar is listed in Charlemagne’s Capitulare de villis, a list of plants to be grown on his estates.