In the corner of our Community Garden we have a magnificent Medlar Tree. This tree has been fruiting since our gardens were established in 2004, in 2025 this tree fruited in abundance.
More about the unusual Medlar Tree
Medlar (Mespilus Germanica) are a Medieval fruit and have been cultivated since the Roman times. It is a large shrub or small tree and is part of the rose family (Rosaceae). Medlar Trees are generally easy to grow and can be relatively problem free, needing little pruning. They produce large white flowers in spring and are great for pollinators and other insects. In the Autumn they produce small round brown fruit which are harvested in October and November.
Medlar fruit are a curious delicacy, not seen in supermarkets and rarely in greengrocers, at the gardens we are asked quite regularly what they are and what do you do with them. Harvested in Autumn when they are hard, bitter and quite unripe the small brown fruits need to be stored for several weeks to ripen (Blet) until they are dark brown, soft, sweet and aromatic. Once bletted the fruit can be eaten raw or turned into a delicious fruit butter.
What is Bletting?
Bletting is a process of ripening the fruit off the tree, this process turns them from a hard ball to an over – ripe fermented fruit, which has a naturally sweet, almost caramel flavour. This process does happen naturally with frost, but with climate change in our little corner of the world in Margate, we don’t experience hard frosts as often. Due to this at the gardens we harvest the fruit before they are ready and let them blet in a box indoors which can take a couple of weeks.
Medlars are ready when they turn a darker shade of brow and are soft when squeezed.
