fionamw

Anyone able to hazard a guess for the name of a fruit that looks a bit like a medlar, tastes very like it and has to be 'rotted' like a medlar..... zerbo? Cerbo? Serbo? ditto but with v instead of b? My lovely neighbour was in full flow having brought some around to show me and offer us some from the tree, but andaluz at full speed............well

jimenato

Chumbo possibly? Prickly pear fruit.

bil

No, certainly not chumbera, those are eaten fresh.

Medlars are a loquat, I think, botanically, as are Nispreo, but again, nisperos are to my way of thinking best eaten fresh, and I have never heard of them being 'Bletted' as I think the term is when medlars are purposefully rotted.

The fruit popular here are azufaifos, that resemble a tiny apple but with a stone like a cherry. The trees are really thorny and unpleasant to deal with, and the fruit is tasteless, dry and not at all pleasant to eat.

fionamw

Definitely not chumbas.... we've got enough to sink a battleship (and btw did you know 'The Bear(Bare?) Necessities includes a verse about prickly pear prickles) ....
nor nisperos. Bletted is right, couldn't remember the term. We had a medlar in Suffolk and actually it was ok to eat, and to make jelly.
This is indeed more apple shaped, didn't get to the stone and the fruit (bletted) had a taste but wasn't exactly splendid. Still remains to find out what he was saying, though.... sounded like Zerbo or something like that. not remotely like Zufaifo, but either could be colloquial and/or he was using an andaluz term for it!

snikpoh

Can you not post a picture of it?

What was the skin like - was it furry?

I have to say that I'm well confused. I looked up medlar on the interweb thingy and found the following link medlar. This looks more like a nispero (loquat)???!

Just found it - quote "Also known as the Japanese medlar, the loquat is a fruit tree that is from the Rosaceae family. " (Bill was correct again)

fionamw

I'm not sure there are any left, but later I'll scramble up the hill to see if I can find some more! ..oh, and the bletter (and then eaten!) one - well there wasn't much left to photograph Skin not furry.

bil

Sorry about that. From memory, medlars look like a starved nispero

Shame you can't eat nispero seeds as they are rather big.

Or can you?

Charles the first was a great fan of medlar jam, and lots of aristos planted medlar trees "Just in case his Maj pops by y' know."

Fred James

That is most definitely a Nispero - we grow them and they would not be fruiting now.

bil

Quick tip. Over here we have a bad problem with brown spots on the leaves and fruit, which ends up getting so bad that the fruit was inedible.

Thanks to Matt's advice we tried spraying with mancozeb followed two weeks by copper, and the spots went away. Any sign of them in the spring, and I will repeat early march with mazcozeb, and two weeks after with copper so as to leave a month before the fruits ripen.

Fred James

We don't get that problem but another tip for you.

You can buy 1kg packets of soluble copper containing 17% Mancozeb.
It's called Cobre Key Doble.

fionamw

Ok I hate that I can't (ie have forgotten how to) put an actual pic rather than a link, or whatever, but the fruit I was given are in a pic I've tried to attach.
The leaves are not what I was expecting at all - more like a rowan! The fruit as is on the tree are the lime greeney-yellow. On the ground darker yellow. Also on the ground and obviously ready to eat are the bletted version, one of which in the pic is opened to indicate how mushy it is.
There is also an RHS pic of a medlar in the UK (as I remember them, too!)
If they aren't visible, could someone help me understand how to paste them into my reply!!!!!!!!!!

angiescarr

Nice picture. What did they taste like? Did you like them?

snikpoh

I certainly wouldn't recommend it - they contain fairly good levels of Arsenic!!

fionamw

Tasted like cooked/stewed/bottled pears, but of course oldish!!.... ie a slightly granular texture, hard to describe any other way. Like? Not sure. Neighbour obviously none too bothered if we take some - in fact the conversation at feria surrounded saying yes take them and pretty much something of everything he's got, even though he's done a renta agreement with someone the other side of the valley! So, knowing I can make a half decent jelly with medlar I'd say this will give the same result.........

bil

Do they now? That's a good reason not to eat them!