In the Kitchen

have that same thing here @shiney , husband not eating beef. so on occasion I get a steak for myself. Make his turkey or pork something. and the veggies and starch are the same for both. As tonight have some beef ribs to roast long and slow in the oven for me.

 

Good, @Sian in Belgium is a Medlar tree grower.

We were given a bag of Medlars a short while ago and Mrs Scrungee made some jelly with them.

Today we got a car boot load dropped off! I reckon there's about 1,500 of them probably weighing 65 lbs, and we need suggestions for what to make with them (whilst they blet).

Looks like I'm going to have to make a 6 gall batch of Medlar Wine, but that'll leave about 20lbs for Mrs Scrungee to make something with. Any ideas?

 

Can freeze very ripe medlars to eat later .

 

I'll never forget a cousin telling me she never realised how much her dog saved on housework until she died. My cousin hadn't had a sticky spot on the kitchen floor for at least 12 years! I never ate anything at her place after she also mentioned she let the dog lick the plates. I know, I know, she washed them after but I just couldn't get that image out of my head!

 

Wow! That’s a lot of medlars!

Medlar jelly is good, we use the BBC Food website recipe, but it says to cook the strained liquor for 20 mins. That’s way too little time - 45 mins is nearer, as you need to reduce it down so that it will set properly. But that’s a LOT of jelly!

 

We've made enough jelly, but need something else to use up those Medlars.

Looking for alternatives online, Mrs Scrungee mainly found a lot of "What can I make with Medlars apart from Medlar jelly?" type posts.

Despite having 5 freezers, there's not enough room in them for over 60lbs of Medlars.

 

Yes i know what you mean, I've got 2 chest freezers full of fruit from the garden. @Scrungee

 

Squirted innards from 30 lbs (6 lbs/gall,) of bletted Medlars into a bucket. Took about 15 mins per 6 lbs per gallon, so about 2 hours total with weighings and hand washings.

Have put the pulpy, seedy, mesh into a straining bag in a fermentation bucket together with some apple juice, pineapple juice, water, enzyme and lots of sulphite.

The expensive grape concentrate will only be added after it's strained. Keeping the pulp in the 20L fine straining bag will help keep sediment out of the wine.

I'm intending pasteurizing all the strained liquid for later fermentation, as that (plus the extra sulphite) will help neutralise any spoilage organisms from the bletting process.

 

@Scrungee, doesn't the sulfide kill the enzyme?
I'm thinking you need the enzyme to break down the fruit.

 

No, they're fine together.

I've only added half the liquid, so when the strained, pasteurised juice is diluted for use, the sulphite level will be halved before the yeast is added, plus I'll start it in a bucket (rather than fermenter) so I can stir it to help the sulphite dissipate.

Or start the remaining water/juice additions off with some of the sugar off first, and when it's fermenting vigorously add some pasteurised juice, then when that's fermenting vigorously, add some more and so on until it's all added (as one does with a stuck fermentation).

If the wine tastes awful, I'll give the lot to the people who gave us all those Medlars! Might try making a gallon of Medlar flavoured Cider.

There's still loads left, so now we'll be making more puree, straining out seeds and skins, squeezing out some water and freezing it in blocks. Mrs Scrungee has been making mincemeat using some from an earlier batch and using up some of our foraged dehydrated blackberries and frozen cherries, plus just adding some puree to cakes, but they were rather insipid and I thought Mrs Scrungee made them before the Medlars were fully ripe and developed their flavour.

 

Mrs Scrungee has made another load of Medlar/hedgerow stuff mincemeat (but I haven't got any pictures of the finished product yet) and she's making Medlar cake tommorow with tge remainder of the puree.

My Medlar infused liquid for wine making has been pasteurised in bottles, and will be started next spring when things warm up a bit as I don't want to pay for putting heating on in our 3rd bedroom/growroom.

Today I've started 5L batch of 'Medlar Cider', infusing 3lbs/gall (half the rate I used for wine) in apple juice which I'll also be re-pasteurising and fermenting in the spring.

That'll leave about 10lbs, which I've suggested using to make more jelly, as the first lot was made with freezer softened Medlars and fully bletted ones should have more ccolour and flavour.

Searching the internet for recipes, I haven't found anybody making as many products.


EDIT: Just taken a refractomer reading of the 4 bottles of AJ with Medlars soaking in it releasing their sugars and it's up to 14 which will mean after straining and adding some more juice it'll produce something around 7.5% ABV cider (same strength as White Lightning, etc.), so more flavour and more alcohol than plain apple cider

 

Medlar mincemeat cake, made using Mary Berry's mincemeat cake recipe that we normally use after buying post Xmas jars of mincemeat reduced to 10p, but made using our Medlar mincemeat made from Medlar puree with foraged blackberries, hazelnuts and cherries.

This is so much better than using just Medlar puree in cakes.

 

All 60+ lbs of Medlars have now been processed, either into Medlar Jelly, Medlar Mincemeat, Medlar puree frozen for later use, pasteurised cold soaked Medlar juice/water for Medlar winemaking and pasteurised cold soaked Medlar juice/apple juice for Medlar flavoured cider.

Medlar cider and 5L trial batch of wine to be started ASAP.

Notes:

Bletted Medlars are approx. 12% sugar by weight.
Bletted Medlars yield 2/3 puree by weight when sieved to remove skins and seeds
6lbs of bletted Medlars cold soaked in a fine straining bag will release 1L of juice after squeezing.


P.S. Found some 10 year old 'canned' cherries at the back of a cupboard still in perfect condition. That's not shop bought stuff in tins, but home preserved ones pasteurised in glass jars. Used them in Medlar mincemeat.