Late autumn means one thing in my garden – the anticipated golf-ball dropping sounds that signal medlar season. This must be about the last fruit that any cool-temperate garden would harvest before the winter sleep sets in, and it’s an unusual one.
My journey with this fruit has been slow and steady, but has gradually evolved into a reliable (if modest) source of income – not to mention a welcome addition to the pantry dessert shelf (ok shelves, it’s shelves). At their best, they look their worst; the ripe, wrinkled brown fruit looking for all the world like they’re more suited to the compost heap than your plate. Maybe it’s why I often struggle to sell the fruit at my local farmer’s market, that and a lack of familiarity.
In a good year, my tree will produce over 40kg of fruit. With fiddly paper-thin skin to peel off and multiple large seeds to remove, it’s super easy to eat raw but involves a time-consuming dedication to messiness to process into anything cooked. The dense, rich and creamy fruit does make for a perfect compote – demanding only a small amount of sugar and a little cinnamon to turn it into an ultra-decadent puree, but dealing with a full tree’s harvest is quite a lot of work and a total over-supply for my pantry.
Struggling to find more than a couple of recipes online, I had the idea of using medlars as a date substitute in bliss balls. The flavour and texture are quite similar, plus it cuts the cost and reduces the carbon miles considerably for this popular sweet treat. Although we do grow dates in Australia, I’m yet to find anything but Californian-grown crops at any store I’ve visited. Adding in my home-grown hazelnuts, it’s really bumped up its locavore credentials.
I’ve made and sold these at the last three local markets and they’ve been a hit! Plus they freeze really well so whatever doesn’t sell goes into my own personal larder to enjoy all year round.
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