The medlar (Mespilus germanica) is a small, russet-brown pome — an apple and pear relative in the rose family — that is famous for being inedible straight from the tree: hard, sour and tannic at harvest, it must be bletted, left to soften and part-ferment for weeks until the flesh collapses into a sweet, brown, spiced pulp tasting of spiced apple butter, date and cinnamon. Once a staple of the medieval and Tudor table, eaten through winter when little else was about, it is now a curiosity grown for its looks, its history and its wide, gaping calyx eye.