A story about community.

The handsome medlar tree produces rather unusual, old-worldy fruit. Maggie from Merricks Farm was inspired to plant the trees after visiting an Open Garden fundraiser after the Black Saturday fires at Malcolm and Tamie Fraser’s, but now Maggie finds her trees produce more medlars than she can possibly use, and so she’s kindly sharing her haul with us.

Problem is, few people know how to cook medlars - so when Garry Crittenden came into the shop to purchase some, we asked for his recipe which is this beautiful medlar jelly. It’s a wonderful accompaniment with Main Ridge Dairy’s capriole and when served with Crittenden Estate’s Peninsula Pinot Noir completes the community experience perfectly.

usually makes about four jars

1kg medlars, semi bletted and halved (Garry emphasizes the importance of “bletting” the medlars, which essentially means leaving them to ripen until squishy and a rusty-brown colour)

½ lemon, juiced

500g castor sugar

1 vanilla bean, split

Place medlars in a large pot and just cover with water. Add lemon juice and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and leave to simmer for an hour. During this process don’t squash the fruit as this will cloud the jelly.

Strain the juice overnight through a muslin cloth into a bowl. Again, be careful not to press down on the cooked fruit. Place a small plate into the freezer.

Pour the juice into saucepan and for each 500ml juice add 375g sugar. Add the vanilla bean and warm the liquid gently until sugar has dissolved. When the sugar has dissolved, boil for a further five minutes without stirring.

Remove your chilled plate from the freezer and drizzle a little of the jelly liquid onto it. Leave it for a minute and push with your finger. If it wrinkles it is ready. If it doesn’t, boil the mixture for another 3-5 minutes and test again.

When it is ready, ladle liquid into clean, warm jars and seal. Leave to cool.

Garry’s recipe is based on a recipe by UK food writer, Mark Diacono, as seen in The Telegraph.