The medlar, might seem to be a new entry to the list of known fruits; but being an ancient fruit it brings blast from the past. In Europe, medlar is traditionally related with the festivity of Christmas, since it is consumed as a popular dessert. This storied fruit has been utilized for long time in the other part of world including Europe and Asia. According to the great English oenophile George Saintsbury of 20^th century, "The one fruit which seems to me to go best with all wine, from hock to sherry and from claret to port, is the Medlar."

The appearance of medlar resembles the fruit pomegranate. However, that is the outside appearance, inside it is completely different from pomegranate. The fleshy fruit can be similar to apple or pear, from inside. In its immature stage, the fruit is quite hard and dry at inside as well as outside. But after a magical ripening process known as bletting, the inside flesh transforms to a brown, custardy pulp and that is the time, when it tastes like wine with a flavor of apple and cinnamon.

Medlar has been popular in Europe, from the early Middle Age period. Before that, it was harvested by the ancient people of Greece and Rome. As a common fruit of this period, it received friendly names like “cul-de-chien” in French meaning “dog-butt” and “open-arse” in Tudor English. The ripened stage of this fruit might mislead you to consider as rotten. But, there is no decaying process involved in the bletting procedure. According to famous writer Chaucer, medlar cannot be eaten “til it be roten”. Similarly, D.H. Lawrence too, described this storied fruit as “Wineskins of brown morbidity / … The distilled essence of hell / The exquisite odour of leave taking." In the “Pomarium Britannicum" (1821), Henry Phillips explained the ripening process as a “putrefactive fermentation."

Medlar could not gain the same popularity in United State, even if it was introduced in early 19^th century. At that time, it was only consumed by the immigrant people, who were familiar with this fruit. However, in 2003, this fruit was started to be cultivated in mass by an Armenian dentist, Dino Bonyadi. He took initiative to buy a 20-acre land in Kern County for planting 80 medlar trees. He wanted to build up a successful business on medlars. However, his dream shattered during the recession period and he had to sale off this farm to Ron Murrey. Murrey found this to be an ideal opportunity to introduce medlars commercially at the ethnic markets of Los Angeles. This year, he has invited experts into his business and planned to make a thriving business out of his crops. Soon, these fresh harvests are going to be available in the fruit markets of LA. You should not miss this chance to enjoy the taste and flavor of this legendary fruit.

Image Courtesy: frenchgardening.com, hubpages.com