The Open Arse of the Fruit World

No, EatingAsia has not gone pornographic.

The title's words are not mine, but Shakespeare's, employed in Romeo and Juliet to characterize the rather unattractive medlar fruit:

Now will he sit under a medlar tree,

And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit

As maids call medlars, when they laugh alone.

O Romeo, that she were, O that she were

An open-arse and thou a poperin pear!

I'd never heard of medlar before this last trip to Turkey. We spied this relative of the quince in several Istanbul markets. After a new acquaintance in Istanbul described the fruit's flavor (and clued me into the Shakespeare reference) we picked up a few hundred grams and left them on our kitchen counter to ripen.

And ripen they did. Or, more accurately, they "bletted" -- the word used to describe the rotting state in which the medlar is eaten. (I love the sound of that, by the way: "The fruit is bletted.") Unblettted, the fruit's flesh is hard and vanilla white. Bletted, it's mushy and brown, with the consistency of thick apple sauce.

You know the medlar is ripe when it's become wrinkly and is showing a wee bit of mold at the, er, open arse end. To eat it, spread the 'petals' and pry off the little 'cap' that sits in their center. Then squeeze gently, and the flesh oozes out the top. (You can also open it rather messily by ripping off the top and a few strips along the side and squeezing, as a market vendor did for us in this photo.)

The medlar is full of small hard seeds that you can just swallow or hold in your mouth as you use your tongue to separate them from the flesh. It tastes something like apple butter with a hit of lemon juice and some very ripe Bartlett pear thrown in. It's a comforting, autumn/winter flavor. Jelly is made from medlar, and we met a cocktail master in Istanbul who concocts a mixer with the flesh. But I can see it cleaned of seeds and spread as is, on a piece of toast with butter or between layers of a walnut cake.

Our new friendship with the medlar was an unexpected bonus of this wintertime trip to Turkey. We hope to meet again next year -- same place, same time.

Comments

[foodbin]

Have not taste it before-thanks for sharing.

[Josh Tuck]

Posts like this are why I keep coming back. I can't believe the amazing things you two learn traveling the globe! I can't wait to get out there again and do some more exploring.

[David Houtz]

We have had a medlar for years and never been able to appreciate the flavor. That flavor being, I imagine, very much like putty. With no sweetness whatsoever. I am still looking for a palatable use of the medlar fruit.

[Katy]

How does Turks use the medlar jelly? Do they use it on sweet pastry mainly – pancake etc? Nigel Slater introduced a few alternative Roast before Xmas and this is his roast pheasant with medlar jelly. I guess it can easily be replaced with apple and pear jelly/sauce, by the sound of your description, if one can’t find medlar.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/dec/05/nigel-slater-medlar-jelly-roast-pheasant-recipes

In Shakespeare’s birthplace garden (Stratford-upon-Avon), there are a good varieties of old (and sometimes rare) fruit trees – and there is a medlar tree which sometimes actors do their play around. I do remember seeing quince tree, that was years ago. I wouldn’t have remembered medlar because I didn’t know it then.

I don’t think medlar fruits were thought ‘unattractive’ ,not in Romeo and Juliet I mean-- as maids ‘laugh alone’ , they laugh to each other because the fruits were ‘sexy’.

Can’t believe I am seeing ‘a pop-her-in pear’ on a family site – assuming you know its 16th century euphemism. :=D

[Lisa in Toronto]

Are medlars the same as the Italian nespole? They are also eaten super-ripe. When we had an Italian greengrocer on my corner they would offer them every year. I tried one once, and it did not click.
Maybe in the right circumstances I can try it again sometime.

[Robyn]

Lisa - no, nespole are loquats I think.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loquat
Didn't know they have them in Italy (though we saw them in Turkey last summer) ... they're a big deal here in Malaysia.

Katy - Turks make jam and compote from medlars. The jelly is a British/European thing, I think. (Turks don't eat jelly with their meats!)

Josh - thanks. If we're inspiring you to get back out there, so much the better! Nothing like discovering new foods on the road.

You're welcome, foodbin.

[Ruth]

Wow, it is the first time I see this fruit. Would like to try it.

I tried the loquats in Thailand. Also tried the mangosteens. Loved the flavor

[GaterieDucale]

They have them in Italy and they are called nespole but also loquat are called nespole....
Esistono due differenti frutti che vengono indicati con il nome di nespola: il frutto di Eriobotrya japonica (nespolo giapponese) appunto che è quello ad oggi maggiormente commercializzato e conosciuto e il frutto del nespolo comune. The Japonica is the loquat the commune is the medlar. It was the Romans who planted them all over the mediterranean. Here in Umbria not many people use them. In Holland we call them mispels and the funny thing is that loquats are sometimes also called mispels sometimes, same as in Italy! We also have the proverb 'rot als een mispel' rotten as a mispel.

[Culinary School Guide]

I adore apple butter so your description of this otherwise gross-looking fruit has made me want one. Thanks!

[Kristina]

Wow, this looks extremely unusual! I'm hoping to move to Turkey in a couple of months, so I look forward to sampling this oddity. Apple butter and lemon? Sounds simply exotic! Thanks for sharing :)

[Nergis Yazgan]

Great and fun article. Thank you . Never thought our good ole medlar made it to Shakespeare in rather, er, daring descriptive wording
Nergis Yazgan , Istanbul