Tart medlar Best health by stone apples

Tart-sour medlar: The aroma comes after the frost
More and more people are enthusiastic about local fruits from nature. The medlar will be given more attention again. The apple-like fruits have a pleasant tart-sour flavor with a slightly nutty note. The true medlar (Mespilus germanica) belongs as the apple and pear to the plant family of the rose family. Until 100 years ago, the old fruit trees were still found in many cottage gardens. The shrub or tree reaches a height of a maximum of five meters and can be 70 years and older.

Healthy power of nature: stone apples. Picture: Alp Aksoy-fotolia

The fruits are also referred to as "stone apples" and carry at one end a crown of five dried Kelchzipfeln. They have a brownish, rough shell and are 2 to 3 cm tall. In cultivars, they can also reach sizes of 6 cm. Loquats contain plenty of vitamin C, minerals, starch, pectin and tannins. In naturopathy the fruits are used because of their anti-inflammatory effect in urinary tract diseases.

Medlars also taste raw, but are usually processed into jam, jelly, juice, compote or liqueur. A sweet-sour medlar chutney goes well with poultry dishes. Often the fruits come in combination with other fruits such as apples, pears and quinces on the table. For the preparation, the medlars are cut open, the seeds are removed and the pulp is cut into pieces. A delicious Mus succeeds by boiling the fruit with a little water for ten minutes, passing it and tasting it with lemon juice, cinnamon and ginger.

From October, the fruit can be harvested. The "stone apples" but also remain on the tree when the foliage has fallen. Only after the frost or after four weeks of storage, they become soft and unfold their full aroma. This creates dark spots on the shell, which migrate over the whole fruit. In the trade German medlars are rarely and if ever, to be found on the weekly market. Heike Kreutz, bzfe