Medlar meddling like the mediaevals

Durham City Bountiful croppers, medlar trees, in mediaeval England, produced a valued winter food

The gales that swept the leaves from the lawns beside the footpath had shaken medlars down from the tree. It seemed a shame to let them go to waste so we filled our pockets.

Held in the palm of the hand a Mespilus germanica pome seems a daunting fruit, with its russet skin pock marked with corky pustules and crowned with claw-like sepals that remain attached and harden after the white petals fall.