Yes, I took a sniff of it first because it doesn't look very much appealing to the eye. But, I have always tried food that I don't know - for the sake of finding out. So if you are reading this and wondering how on earth did the liver on the Steemit Culinary Challenge #4 won, I have eaten a chicken liver. It's a delicacy in Asia and even 5 Michelin Star Chefs from all over the world make expensive dishes out of that. If you know how to clean and cook it - it could be eaten.
My father used to make "Chicken Liver Adobo" in soy sauce, black pepper, ginger, garlic, onion and calamunding juice. The thought of it may be repulsive now but my palate won't deny it'll be aroused at just the scent of it. Though I wouldn't be eating that - just because I made a switch and had changed my eating habits I would be bias not to consider that original just because I don't nor would never eat that again. If there was a pig's liver, a snake's meat, a rabbit, a frog's legs in the entries - they would also have had a chance. When I was younger, I had a taste of almost everything someone offers me to eat. Not because I am such a pig - no - I used to think "YOLO" so make the most out of it. I'm happy I did because - who would have thought I'll be running this challenge and bump on to such a dish.
As for the Medlar fruit, it has no smell compared to the chico taste like dates but less sweet . In fact, it has this subtle sweetness. It has the same texture as that of a baby's food. If you dare to give it a try - please know it has four hard seeds inside it. The guy says - I could make a jam out of it. I prefer fresh fruit so am letting the rest undergo further bletting. Would I be growing the seeds? Not this time, they have plenty of that in the gardening club where I am a member now so I won't have to.
It used to be rare here but not anymore. Thanks to "volks tuin"( - that's how they call it here) that grows their trees - we could just enjoy a medlar fruit anytime we like.
A medlar fruit is rich in thiamine, or B1 vitamin which takes care of our nervous system, heart and muscles. It's much pectin which could help for those who can't defecate in a day. If you are not pooping everyday - your body is in trouble. Eating medlar would help against constipation. It also high in ascorbic acid, ron, copper, calcium, and manganese. Aside from its fruit, its leaves could actually be used as a mouthwash since they have astringent properties. Its bark could also be used as a water soluble alkaloid as anti- inflammation.
Any fruit that gets bletted and go over bletted can be made into wine - so does a medlar. The guy also said - they could even make them into cheese so I looked up how to and it says just add butter and egg - and cooking it. Others just mash a whole lot of them, sugared and cooked then let cool in a mold then you get this sweet Medlar cheese. Had I known that I would have taken some more. I just took 12 though the guy insisted we fill our bags cause they have more on the trees because what if we don't like it - then we'll be feeding it to birds. Next year, I would bring a lot. ^ ^
If you are Greek, I won't be surprise if you say you have eaten a Medlar fruit. It is where it first got in here - in Europe. You also probably know, bees and other insects love them and they don't need much taking care of as long as you placed them where it's super sunny and the soil is acidic enough.
sources:
Mespilus
In Praise of Medlars - Get the Most from these Delicious Fruit
Each pic was taken with a Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 except for the two others without my name on it - sourced in blued sentences.
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Nice post! Old-fashioned fruit making a comeback.
I have eaten some, picked after the first frost and then bletted; I got them from the medlar trees in the Ledeboerpark in Enschede, the older farms there grow them:
@ocrdu yeah, there was a lot both on the trees and the grounds :)
we won't go hungry here even in winter yeah?
No 8-). Watch out though, once the mispels are soft and eatable, you can't store them for very long. Ze willen best graag schimmelen. Maybe you can freeze them or something, I don't know.
@ocrdu - I think every fruit would. I just have 12 and they won't last long haha!
Today I Learned :-)
Thank you Ivy, I did not know about this kind of fruit. When I can find them somewhere sure will give them a try!
@oaldamster the guy from the volkstuin says it has been almost extinct years ago and I also heard that from vlierhof - they only had one out there. Pap also said they barely see that in Maastricht - but the volkstuin has managed to grow a lot. They'll be spreading it around Arnhem.
Me too)
They look positively evil. No good can come of this ;0)
@meesterboom haha evil indeed - the kind you'll love
this kind
Hehe, yes indeed, the good kind!
Wow never heard of these - they remind me a little bit of brown/green apples that the birds have pecked the tops- Braeburns.
Not sure if they will have these here, but will keep an eye out for them, quite fancy trying these
@ladypenelope1 if you guys have loquat - it's their cousin :)
they both belong to the family of Rosacae.
It's interesting that you can forage medlars. They have been in Europe a long time, so I guess they are in a lot of places by now. What sort of habitat are you finding them in?
I grow medlars in in Oregon's Willamette Valley. I will make a post. Mine are bletting as I type! :D
PS: Can you make it clear that some of these photos are not yours? The way you have posted them, I thought they were yours, until I clicked the links. Please see the guidelines for the @foraging-trail here and here. Thanks!
@haphazard-hstead I was not sure to tag it foraging - but I understood foraging as to find food just scattered around like animals do - so I did. That's how I found them. Thanks for upvoting it!
It's the same ground in this post, as I wrote in the last paragraph - sunny place as there was no other trees around them, in addition - grass on the ground - as the guy explained - it needs an acidic soil. The grass also made it easy picking them up - not dirty. They may have been in other places in Europe but according to the guy it was announced near extinction here a few years ago. They've grown a lot of them to bring them back.
As for the photos - all the sourced ones have blued sentences above them - that's to show the sources. I used HTML to make it more professional. That's how we do it in wpress. If you click on the blued sentences - you'll see they're the source plus those photos don't have my name on it - all of the pics I made always have my name on them but thank you for pointing that out - it's possible you're not the only one who thought that and it's better be cleared up. If you also click the blued "this post" it'll lead you to the link of the post. Every blued word, phrase and sentence in this post would lead you to the references.
That's interesting about how they are not common in Europe, but being brought back. In the catalogs here in the US, they make out like medlars are common, in England especially, and we are missing out. I can see that they would be easy to have growing wild along the edges of parks or unused land. My tree takes absolutely no extra care. It even handles dry summers really well.
As far as the image sources, it would be more clear to put "Image source:" in front of the active link.
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@foraging-trail thanks a great lot for your support!
You're welcome! Thank you for sharing your appreciation of nature's wild bounty!
Ha ha at myself. I thought you mis-spell it.
I don't think kids know YOLO.
They only take if the adult have it.
I think you have to be at least in teens to YOLO.
Great find! This is on my want list. I mentioned it in my persimmon article too.
We call it astringent, because of the pucker factor before it's ready. Not all persimmons are like that though, only the astringent varieties. Other non-astringent ones, especially among the Asian cultivars (like the fuyu) can be eaten while still crisp, like an apple.
I've not tasted this yet. But I do have a place in my yard that really needs a tree!!
@anotherjoe maybe @haphazard-hstead could send you seeds :)
I was looking for you thought - where's the funny joe?
Sorry, the funny joe was busy yesterday. ;)
@anotherjoe, I guess as the holidays approach we all are going to be.
Am glad you're just there :)
Looks good to me! I just published an article on ancient superfoods. Really interesting how this one used to be rare but is no longer!
thanks
you shouldnt waste your voting power on old post you loose your curation rewards.
these days its too hard for newbies to get one so
use it to yourself
and cast it 30 minutes after your post is up