Medlar Jam

Medlars is one of those things that everyone seems to know about but nobody I know has done. The fruit, which gets called all sorts of rude things in other languages, needs to be ‘bletted’, ie left to over-ripen or partially rot before it can be used. There are two beautiful old trees here in Kendal and I always wonder how many people realise what they are. So this week I decided to have a go at making some jam
The fruit had started falling a couple of weeks ago which made collecting the medlars easy and had given them chance to start bletting. They feel should feel squishy, kind of the opposite from how you’d normally select fruit.

Once you start to chop them up, they don’t look so promising:
Even less so after they’ve been boiled for an hour:

But, surprise surprise, the resulting juice makes a beautifully coloured, clear jam with a distinctive, fruity taste. Well worth the effort.