No 212 Berlin Medlar

Is there still fruit to be harvested from the open field in our latitudes at the end of November? Many people would certainly say no. But there is more than one type of fruit that is still hanging on the tree very late in the year, even after night frosts, waiting to be processed. We were therefore delighted when we had the opportunity to harvest some medlar trees in Berlin just at this time of year. For those who may be wondering whether it is safe to do this in the big city, we can safely say that the local conditions mean that there is no risk of contamination, e.g. from exhaust fumes. But what exactly are medlars? They look a bit like small apples with an oversized remnant of the blossom on the underside of the apple fruit. They are only ripe when they are soft and doughy. When we picked them, we noticed that this was only the case with some of the fruit, but this is not a problem as the medlars ripen perfectly when stored correctly until they reach their optimum ripeness. For us, however, this meant double the work, as we were only able to mash the ripe fruit on the day of harvest and had to wait some time before we could process the remaining fruit. It was definitely worth it, because the flavors that had already captivated us during the processing of the fruit, such as figs and dates, dried fruit and fruit bread, can be found 1:1 in this extraordinary brandy.

42 % vol