Field guide · Late autumn

Medlar

Worth knowing before you ask for one: in Portugal nêspera on a stall almost always means loquat, a spring fruit off a different tree — the medlar is nêspera-europeia, and it belongs to late autumn. It's also the one fruit you buy hard and brown and then deliberately leave to rot. That's bletting: a few weeks indoors, or a first frost outdoors, until the flesh goes dark and soft and tastes of spiced apple and date. Simplest thing to do with it: once bletted, spoon it straight out of the skin, or push it through a sieve into cream.

Noted 2026-07-26