In recent decades, medlars have been cultivated more as an ornamental shrub, as they adorn themselves with attractive, white flowers in spring and form interesting, gnarled branches. The very tasty fruits, which are currently experiencing a renaissance, are only harvested late in the year. However, they are inedible fresh from the tree because they contain a lot of tannins. These are broken down by cold and the stone fruit tastes aromatically sweet.
Can you freeze loquats to ripen them?
Loquats can be grown by freezing: wash the fruits, remove leaves, leave the flower base and store them in the freezer for at least 24 hours. After thawing, the medlars ferment and become sweet and soft, ideal for eating raw or for further processing.
Store medlars in the freezer
Unripe medlars have hard, light flesh. After the first frost the fruits ferment. The meat becomes soft, takes on a brownish color and becomes pleasantly sweet.
You can also determine the time of ripening yourself by harvesting the medlars at the end of October and storing them in the freezer. Fermentation begins immediately after thawing and you can continue to use the medlars or enjoy them raw.
Preparing medlars for freezing
- Put water in the sink and wash the fruit thoroughly.
- Pluck off all the leaves; the medlars are not deseeded.
- Leave the flower base on the medlar fruit.
- Dab dry and pour into a suitable container.
- Store in the freezer for at least 24 hours.
- If you want to eat the fruits fresh, only thaw as many as you need.
Processing medlars
You can simply enjoy the thawed medlars raw. The peel is edible, but often a bit tough.
- Halve the medlar.
- Get the stones out with a spoon.
- Scrape the pulp out of the skin.
If you want to process the frozen medlars into jam or jelly, cut off the flower base and remove the peel and seeds. Unfortunately, due to the doughy consistency of the pulp, they cannot be squeezed out like plums.
For puree, briefly boil the medlars with a little water. Strain everything through a sieve and season with a little apple juice, vanilla and cinnamon.
Tip
The medlar is a valuable winter food for birds. Therefore, when harvesting the loquat, always leave some fruit on the tree for your feathered garden inhabitants.
