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Melton Mowbray Liqueurs, a Sloeberry Spirits brand.
Medlar Gin Liqueur
A very Limited Edition Liqueur
We are always looking for new ideas, whether it's packaging, like the booze baubles or a different fruit to produce a liqueur from - remember Chuckleberry?, so when a friend of Sloeberry Spirits offered us a small harvest of Medlar fruit, we couldn't resist, we said yes please.
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Up to that moment in time we had never tasted Medlar, and had only seen photos of the fruit.
Starting in May the Medlar tree produces a mass of large white flowers, followed by unusual flattish fruits in the autumn, the fruit is still rock hard and must be allowed to soften to become edible.
Our fruit was picked from the trees in late October and then stored until it appeared to be softening and getting close to being 'over ripe'. This softening is called 'bletting', a process during which the sugars increase and the acids and tannins decrease. Only when the fruit has turned deep brown in colour and the flesh become softer is it ready to eat, and in our case ready to go into gin. Due to the small quantity of fruit we were able to produce less than 100 bottles
Our Medlars are the Nottingham variety harvested from a newly planted orchard, but it is thought that medlars originated in the region of Persia, then it spread to south-eastern Europe, the medlar was known to the Greeks by 300BC. Whilst it can be found in gardens, parks and hedgerows in England it is not a true native but has simply naturalised over the years. It is thought likely to have been brought here by the Romans.
