So, what did I do with the medlars? In my previous post on medlars, I left you with a hint of my intentions. Here is the hint, again, in this photo. 
Here’s another hint; it involves a little time, plus pears, medlars, sugar, lemon, water, plate, spoon, pot, stove top, bowls, frying pan, a strainer, and absolutely no autumn leaves. Their purpose in the photo was decorative only. So, yes, you guessed it. I made medlar pear jelly. Actually, more pear than medlar because I had 3 pears to brew, and only 2 medlars.
I chopped and chunked the fruit, skin and all; placed it in a small pot with a quarter of a lemon, skin and all; barely covered the fruit with water and, then, had a merry boil-up, till the fruit was soft. Next the contents of the pot were sieved through a cheese cloth . More shoved than sieved because I am not patient with jelly making and rarely do the proper thing, which is to let the fruit liquid seep very, very slowly through the cheese cloth into a container.
The end result was a lovely, pale amber extraction which made me think of mead, or honey wine. It didn’t taste like mead; it did taste like soft, sweet pear juice, flavoured with a drop of medlar essence and a squeeze of lemon.
The next stage was to take one cup of the juice, a quarter cup of lemon juice and one and a quarter cups of sugar and boil the mixture until it jellied ie until a small splodge of it set freely on a cold plate. I like to make jelly, or jam, in small quantities and in a small frying pan, as I find that I get a quicker set that way. And here is the result; three small bowls of golden jelly, ever so firm and smooth and subtlely pear-ish, spiced with the lightest touch of medlar. Would you like some? It is scrumptious on toast.
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- Season of Mists
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- Mellow Fruitfulness
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- Maturing Sun
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- Last Oozings
Don’t mind if I do! 
Footnote: Mead, like the medlar, has a long history. Mead has ancient origins throughout Africa, Asia and Europe and, most likely, pre-dates culitvation of the soil. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead Cats have an ancient history too 🙂
© silkannthreades
There’s nothing like fruit jelly for magic light effects, and yours looks especially wonderful. Am indebted for the tip of making jelly in small batches. This might inspire to go foraging for crab apples. Haven’t made them into jelly for several years now. It’s often a faff getting a set in a big panful.
Faff is the right word, Tish. Small quantities are much easier to set. I haven’t made jelly or been foraging for crab apples for years. Unfortunately, my favourite (very old) crab apple tree was slaughtered for a housing development. I felt disheartened about jelly making thereafter. 😦
That is a grave loss. Hmph to housing development that destroys trees.
Trees will probably be planted, given time, but they are unlikely to be crab apple trees. 😦 Actually, this conversation is making me wonder if I should consider planting a crab apple tree in my garden. I must investigate options on my next trip to the garden centre.
There are some lovely dwarf varieties. I planted a weeping one last autumn. It only grows to 3m https://www.ornamental-trees.co.uk/malus-red-jade-tree-p237 Quite a few seem to be of Japanese origin/grafting. We have Evereste on the back fence. She’s compact too and very lovely. I think everyone should plant a crab apple tree 🙂
They sound lovely varieties, Tish. I will investigate. 🙂 I may have left it a bit late for planting this year, though.
I think there’s more seasonal leeway if the tree
is in a pot rather than bare-rooted, though in the UK the potted ones are much more expensive.
Good to know.
Looks wonderful! I’ve always wanted to make pineapple jelly. Perhaps your post will give me the
impetus to turn it into reality soon!
Yes, have a go. 🙂
Interesting. It seems the cat is waiting to taste.
That cat is always ready to taste anything! But she didn’t get any of the jelly this time. I suppose she thought we were mean 🙂
You are so patient to make a jelly out of your fruit. I’ll bet your cat was waiting patiently too! Would you do it again with the medlars?
Yes, I am planning to make some pure medlar jelly. My other medlars are almost completely bletted so perhaps in a day or two I will make some more jelly. The cat snuck inside and when my son saw her sitting at the table he placed a plate etc next to her and took the photo. She makes us laugh. If we had put something/anything on the plate she would have eaten it.
Of course she would! Cat’s love to eat! They are so funny sometimes. I’m looking after a cat this week and she’s nearly deaf, I keep scaring her and she can open sliding doors with her head, amazing!
Cute.
Looks and sounds beautiful! So glad you got to make something so special with them 🙂
Thank you. I was very pleased with the result of my experimentation.
I love the photos in the glasses. That colour is very evocative.
Thank you. Like you, I am fascinated how things look from different angles and in different light.
i’m happy with the singe anjou pears….hehehe
nice shoots!
Thank you. Yes, pears are also good without any extras.
I am in 🙂 I have never eaten this fruit but it looks delicious!!
It has its own unique charms 🙂
Oh this had to be so interesting to try!!!
It certainly was 🙂
Wow, I could smell that wonderful jelly cooking as I read your post. I bet it was very delicious 🙂
Completely delicious. I am eating my way through it very quickly.
Sounds like you found the perfect combination. Pears are one of my favorite fruits, especially with goat cheese and honey. Yummy.
Oh yes, pears, goat cheese and honey; that’s a great combination too.
So beautiful! It looks like nectar to the Gods….xo Joanne
Oh yes, that is a good description; thank you 🙂
Looks good, I would like to try some 🙂
Thank you. I wish I could send you some to taste.
I’d love to try, I love jelly. It looks a bit like Quince jelly which my mum used to make, which is incidently my favourite as it has such a wonderful flavour. Your jelly looks similar and I bet it tastes divine. totally ymmy, oh you are so good in the kitchen, I really could learn a lot from you!
I did make some banana muffins yesterday (12) which disappeared mysteriously during the day, my 2 sons were around…. at least I had one. 🙂
The case of the mysterious vanishing muffins! I haven’t made Quince jelly but I imagine this jelly would be much the same. I like making jelly; it always looks so pretty 🙂
My mum also used to make apple jelly form the apples of our apple tree in the garden,we used to cut apples all day…and a worm in each was normal…. they were well organic, no pesticides, and tasted beautilful as jelly.
The apple tree has gone now it fell apart in high winds as it was very old. 😦
Apple jelly is lovely. I believe those old apples, complete with worms and bugs, make the very best jelly. So sad the old tree is gone.
I can’t let Rebecca take all the credit for the meadery-makers in Canada! We have tons here in Scotland – I like the sound of this one http://www.highlandwineries.co.uk/moniack-mead.php but I could not top Rebecca’s video clip 🙂 But I bet your home-made medlar-mead can give them all a good run for their money – yum!
Delectable delights on that website. Thank you. I am glad to know there is plenty of room for mead amongst all the whiskey.
Yes, indeed!
Yes OF COURSE I would like some. Never tasted anything like it. And how clever you were with the preparation! Kudos~
I will save an entire pot for you! You can bring the toast.
How absolutely beautifully elegant. And you have given us a beginning to end explanation. I felt I was there stirring the pot. Interesting links to mead! You feed my curiosity. Here I am at 10:30 p.m. researching mead. And I found this link that may encourage you to make a trip to my side of the world. I never knew we had a meadery on Vancouver Island. I am going to try to add the link – hope it works!
I love that you have a meadery. When you next research mead, I hope you will have a glass of mead in your hand! I am thinking that perhaps I should have added the Americas to my list of mead areas for surely if there are bees there will be some version of mead.
It seems that we only have one in Western Canada! I have a feeling that Mead might be having a revival. BTW, I held my breath when he was handling the bees without any gloves. It appears that the bees like him…
They sense that he cares for their welfare 🙂 I like the way they give the bees a diversity of plants to range amongst. It is good if mead is having a revival because it will be another reason for people to care about the survival of the bees.
those are some beautiful images! soothing! z
Thank you. There was hardly any sun on that day but suddenly there were just a few beams shining through the jelly that I had left to set. It was a golden moment.
isn’t the sun’s effect amazing, especially on jellies – or anything in a glass.
I am besotted with that effect.