This ancient British fruit may not be the prettiest, but its pulp is delicious with cream or cooked down, left to set and served with a sharp cheddar
Most foods are best thrown away when they start to rot, but not medlars. This globose, rather unsightly tree fruit needs to be partially rotted or fermented until its astringent flesh softens and turns sweet, acidulated and toffee apple-like.
Medlars are rarer than they once were but, like many forgotten foods, they can be saved from extinction by keeping them in fashion and on the dinner table. Medlar leaves are also edible in small amounts, and were once commonly used as a medicinal tea to treat the common cold.