Medlar Jelly — Old Varieties

Following requests from readers trying to find out what they can do with surplus fruit and veg, we have created an online database linking growers with food producers.

There are many family run specialist food producers around the UK, who will take in or harvest surplus fruit and veg in return for a quantity of the finished product.

The UK has many gardens which are home to old varieties of fruit which are full of flavour and go to waste every year, as well as those types of fruit which are no longer in commercial cultivation, such as Quinces and Medlars.

Thanks to specialist food producers, we are now starting to see a revival in the use of these rare varieties, harnessing recipes and skills from our past.

Medlar Jelly, juices from pears and apples, along with wines and ciders are among the many British products now gracing our shelves. So full of unique flavour, they make a welcome change to the usual mass produced fare.

If you would like to be added to our list of growers and producers, then please contact us via the comments section at the end of this post.

Medlars are one of our ancient British fruits making a come back.

During the middle ages, people would have been very familiar with this strange looking small fruit which is actually eaten in it’s over ripe or “bletted” stage.

No longer in commercial cultivation, old gardens are generally home to the only trees in the UK. Some of these trees will be about two hundred years old.

Tracklements Ltd. in Wiltshire have launched a delicious new Medlar Jelly. Great with turkey, pheasant or game it is perfect for the Christmas table or the cold cuts’ table for left-over meat.

The medlars for this jelly were picked by the kind people int he surrounding area. You can see pictures of the donatees and picking adventures on their facebook page.

Tracklements started a quest to find some of these ancient medlar trees and the option of taking the unused fruit in return for finished product.

BBC Countryfile heard of this project and joined them picking for a day.

Put your fruit to work

We are aware that there are various food producers around the UK who will take in unused fruit from gardens and orchards in return for a quantity of finished product.

It would be handy for producers and growers if we could create a database of people willing to link up and put the country’s unused fruit to good use. If you are interested in joining our list then please contact us via the comments section at the end of this post.

More information

Common Medlar – More information about the Common Medlar

Tracklements Ltd

BBC Countryfile

Produce Link

Looking for Medlars

Put your fruit to work