Wash 'em down with Hiney Wine!
Posted on 03/29/2021 5:16:45 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Medieval Europeans were fanatical about a strange fruit that could only be eaten rotten. Then it was forgotten altogether. Why did they love it so much? And why did it disappear?
The polite, socially acceptable name by which it's currently known is the medlar. But for the best part of 900 years, the fruit was called the "open-arse" – thought to be a reference to the appearance of its own large "calyx" or bottom.
And yet, medieval Europe was crazy about this fruit.
The fruit are unusual for two reasons. Firstly, they're harvested in December – making them one of very few sources of sugar that would have been available in medieval winters. Secondly, they only become edible when they're rotten.
When they're first picked, medlars are greenish brown and resemble oddly-shaped onions or alien-looking persimmons. If they're eaten straight away, they can make you violently ill – one 18th Century doctor and botanist said that they cause diarrhoea. But if you put them in a crate of sawdust or straw and forget about them for several weeks, they gradually darken and their hard, astringent flesh softens to the consistency of a baked apple.
Fast-forward to 2021, and the medlar is now not quite so little-known in Europe as it once was. It's begun quietly sneaking back into public awareness – largely thanks to the efforts of enthusiasts such as Steward, who markets her own range of medlar products, including jam and gin.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Persimmons have to bitten by a hard frost before they sweeten up.
BTTT
Interesting name. Here's one for you: avacado is derived from the Mayan word for testicle. Think about that the next time you have guacamole.
Like Quince?
“Persimmons have to bitten by a hard frost before they sweeten up.”
” The English scholar and wine connoisseur George Saintsbury wrote in his classic Notes on a Cellar that “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 - an admirable and distinguished thing in itself, and a worthy mate for the best of liquors.” “
Nurseries getting 38 bucks each!
Like Quince?
Apparently not.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mespilus_germanica
Until recently, Mespilus germanica was the only known species of medlar. However, in 1990, a new species was discovered in North America, now named Mespilus canescens. The loquat, Eriobotrya japonica, is more distantly related than genera such as Crataegus, Amelanchier, Peraphyllum, and Malacomeles,[4] but was once thought to be closely related, and is still sometimes called the ‘Japanese medlar’.
—”Nurseries getting 38 bucks each!”
Can they be started from seeds?
I love durian, an incredibly strange smelling fruit like foot odor, garlic, and onion. It tastes a little bit like the latter two, but also fruity and sweet and when eaten fresh, it is essentially a large pod of finger pudding (yes, I am borrowing that term from “finger jello”).
It sounds like this is its European counterpart.
>>Medieval Europeans were fanatical about a strange fruit that could only be eaten rotten.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO2Viv8dQJ4
I would liken it more to a baby diaper...an incredibly full baby diaper.
Nastiest thing I've ever smelled, but tasty, if you can get past that vomit-inducing odor.
Same genetic family.
My nephew lived in Bangkok for three years, and became acquainted with durian there. He loves the stuff, but alas, durian or durian products are seemingly not available in Oregon.
There was a grizzled old persimmon tree along “the path” in the woods behind the house, when i was a kid. We learned young when not to eat them. But I’ve eaten my share when they were ripe. Yum.
Similar, related fruits in the rose family include:
Quince
Chinese quince
Japanese flowering quince
Hawthorn
Crabapple
They make good jelly and wine.
they can only propagate if the seeds go through the gut of a wild critter.
hence they grow along the trail
Well, of course- they’ve been growing from their seed forever.
May take a very long time though.
Gee, see some for up to 60 bucks- and all “out of stock”.
Must be a ‘fad’ going on.
Descriptions say they’re very hardy and not picky about soil or climate- and I love plants that don’t need a lot because I won’t give them a lot LOL!
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