Medlar cider?

[pomme homme]

As I was walking round our fields this morning, I noticed that on the river banks the wild medlar trees are dripping with fruit. These are not the large fruit of the 'domesticated' medlar but their smaller brethren, each of which is about the size of a ping-pong ball (that's the fruit, not the trees!). Given time and lack of intervention by me, inevitably the medlars will fall to the ground and either provide nourishment for wild animals or become part of the soil. That seems a shame. At a guess, I'd say that there is over 100 kg of fruit on my trees. Whilst acknowledging that I would need to give them time to blet - they are hard as marbles at present - would it then be feasible to crush and press them? If so, what fruit/juice ratio might one expect to achieve? What would medlar juice taste like? Is the sugar content, when the medlar has bletted, sufficient to make fermentation of the juice viable? So in the end, could one make a medlar cider? I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has tried and, if there are none who have done so, to receive any expert opinions on the subject.

 

[graysalchemy]

Rooting fruit :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

From what I have just read Medlars are quite acidic and high in Tannin. The bletting process breaks down these elements making them sweeter. It could however make quite a nice pucker drink depending on how far you blet them.

 

[pomme homme]

In previous years, all I've done is to use a small proprtion of what was available to make an apertif which is a blend of eau-de-vie, white wine, sugar and medlar flesh. It made a drink with an abv of about 16-18%, golden in colour and a distinctive but delicate flavour. However it was an absolute b****r to clear. I found the recipe on a NZ website. I had to adapt that as it proposed using industrial alcohol where I used eau-de-vie. Remind me to read the label clearly next time a buy any kiwi alcoholic beverage!

 

[graysalchemy]

I would suggest it is packed full of pectin which will obviously cause a haze. It sounds an interesting fruit and would probably make a tasty cider.

I read on wikipedia about leaving it till the first frosts before picking this stands to reason as some wines grapes are not picked until after the frosts as it aids sugar conversion.

I had never heard of them before but they are related to quince and after seeing a photo I remember seeing them on holiday in somerset.

Cheers

 

[RobWalker]

Google has the answers too;

http://home.btconnect.com/ntruman/wine/medlarwine.htm

 

[Basalt]

Hi. I found this site looking for info on medlar cider. I made some this year but used unbletted medlars - my reasoning was that they have a similar bitter astringency to cider apples and all I had access to was desert apples that made a thin weak cider used alone. I used about 300g medlars to 4l pressed apple juice- stuck them in a blender with juice then strained. Two batches- one with blackberry added, both have come out extremely well.
I've just set up a batch using 4l carton juice (but fresh pressed) and Kilo and a half of bletted medlars, i'll part back with results

 

[shocker]

Int-er-esting ! I have grim memories of medlars from my chilhood , biting into nasty surprises .We have an old ,old small medlar bush that has just re surfaced at the farm , along with a russet tree that seems to produce more wool than the sheep and a lot of wasps . Had not thought of putting them in with the cider . I planted a crab apple as an extra pollinator about 8 years ago but it has yet to fruit significantly .Medlar could be an avenue to be explored .

 

[pomme homme]

I regret to say that, chez moi, the medlars fell to the ground and either provided nourishment for wild animals or became part of the soil. Maybe another year I'll try a small batch of medlar cider along with some of the other 'variation on a theme' ideas that I have.

 

[Basalt]

Here's the proportions -

3.5l desert apple juice
500ml blackberry juice - made by gentle heating to just off boiling
250g medlars - unbletted, blended into juice then strained.

second batch
4l desert apple juice
400g medlar -unbletted.

Blackberry version still looked like pink soup after 12 weeks and two rackings so I gave in and added pectinase and then finings.

'Plain version' started to clear all by itself after 9 weeks and now only has a slight haze. After two weeks in the bottle there's a slight fizz so I'm hope I'm getting a little secondary fermentation.

Flavourwise the blackberry version is inferior - the berries don't really come through and it's a little harsher then the other.

The bletted medlar version currently looks like something squeezed out of a dog.