A small brown fruit that must be allowed to decay slightly (bletted) before eating, at which point it becomes sweet and soft. The tree is related to apples and pears.
From Arabic az-zu'rūr or through Latin mespilus, though Arabic sources describe similar fruits. The word entered English via Old French medlier in the 14th century. Arabic agricultural texts described the unusual ripening process that makes medlars edible only after partial decay.
Medlars are the only fruit that must literally rot before you can eat them—Arabic texts called this process 'blessed decay' because it transforms bitter astringency into honey-like sweetness! Shakespeare used medlar as a metaphor for things that improve with age, showing how well-known this Arabic agricultural wisdom had become.
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