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The Medlar and the Loquat (Prettier if made)
are prettier if made from the whole, fresh fruit instead of from the jelly pulp. For the jam wash and seed the fruit, removing the blossom end and any discolouration or imperfection. Place over the fire, barely covering with cold water and cook slowly several hours till very tender and deep red in colour. No water will be needed in addition to that first placed on the fruit as its juiciness requires reducing rather than otherwise. When cooked down add sugar in equal measure and continue to cook down till of proper consistency-two hours or more, when as much as four or five quarts are used. The ripe loquats make a yellower jam, lacking the rich colour though of excellent flavour.
CHAPTER V THE PEACH (Amygdalus Persica, or Prunus Persica) AND APRICOT (A. or P. Armeniaca) A NOTHER great division of fruits is the Almond or Plum family, Amygdalacea, including the almond, peach, apricot, cherry, and plum. The peach is held by some to be a distinct genus, by others is variously classed with the almond and apricot and with the plum, adding interest to the mooted question of exact origin by the fact that Darwin held the peach to be an evolutionised form of the wild almond. Alphonse de Candolle has led the theorists claiming the distinct peach origin, with China as its probable earliest home: since in that country the peach has not been found in varying forms (approaching or departing from the almond) but instead, has never been unknown as a distinctive, individual fruit or tree. (The Chinese Peen-To peach, in form flattened like a tomato, is now grown to a considerable extent in parts of the semi-tropical states of North America.) The name Persica was given the peach from the supposition that it originated in Persia. It has claims upon beauty of complexion, unrivalled perhaps in the fruit kingdom, and in rich, luscious fragrance few fruits can equal it, being esteemed in almost every country of the world for its flavour and daintiness of texture.
Peaches must be fully ripened and sound to be entirely wholesome uncooked but in this perfect stage have been
A two-stage fruit butter in all but name: the fruit is stewed for hours before any sugar goes in, then cooked down again. The passage opens mid-sentence because it follows a jelly recipe in the original book, and it covers both medlars and loquats.
- The hinge is the long first cookingThe fruit is stewed for hours before any sugar goes in, and it is during that stage that the colour deepens. Sugar added early tends to firm the fruit and slow its breakdown, so the colour and texture may not develop as well later.
- Medlars must be bletted firstMedlars are normally bletted before being eaten raw -- kept some weeks until the hard, astringent flesh turns soft and brown -- though for preserves firmer fruit is often used, and this recipe's 'whole, fresh fruit' plus its several hours of slow cooking may point to unbletted fruit. Loquats are used at ordinary eating ripeness.
- "Seed the fruit"Both fruits carry large stones — five in a medlar, three to five in a loquat. Remove them along with the blossom end; loquat seeds in particular are best not left in the pot.
- Sugar "in equal measure"The recipe does not define it. Its placement after "when cooked down" suggests measure for measure of sugar to the reduced pulp rather than to the raw fruit.
- Quantities and timingThe four or five quarts is the fruit as put in the pot; the recipe itself notes its juiciness "requires reducing". Two hours or more after the sugar is what the text gives, but go by consistency -- a spoonful chilled on a cold plate should mound rather than run.
- Heat and the pan"Place over the fire" means the lowest steady simmer. Use a wide heavy-bottomed pan; a tall narrow pot will not evaporate the juice, and once the sugar is in, thick fruit purée scorches quickly and needs frequent stirring.
- Yield and storageThe original says nothing about sealing; use current water-bath canning directions if you intend to store it at room temperature, or refrigerate and use within a few weeks.
Medlars and loquats are grouped here for kitchen convenience rather than botany: both are pomes in the rose family, but the medlar (Mespilus germanica) is an old European orchard tree, grown in England and France since the Middle Ages and long out of fashion by the time this book was written, while the loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) reached Western gardens from East Asia in the late eighteenth century and took hold in the American Gulf South and California, where it is still sometimes called the Japanese plum. The medlar's requirement of bletting — being kept until half-rotten before it can be eaten raw — made it a famously unfashionable fruit, and both Chaucer and Shakespeare use it as a bawdy joke about decay. The chapter that follows, on the peach and apricot, shows the same period habit of pairing a recipe collection with popular botany, setting out the disputed origin of the peach with Darwin holding it an evolved form of the wild almond and Alphonse de Candolle leading those who argued a distinct Chinese origin.