Overview
About Medlar
Medlar is the one fruit in this database that you are supposed to eat half rotten, and that is the fact that changes how you read its grades.
Picked hard off the tree it is inedible: woody, sour and so tannic it strips your mouth. It only becomes food after bletting, several weeks of controlled softening after the first frosts, during which the flesh collapses to a brown, spoonable, spiced apple sauce. That is deliberate over ripening, and over ripening is precisely when biogenic amines accumulate in any fruit. Medlar already grades B for histamine before you factor that in, so a well bletted medlar deserves more caution on the amine side than the row alone suggests. On the gut side it is a moderate rather than a mild fruit: C for total FODMAPs, C for excess fructose and C for polyols, which fits its place among the Rosaceae pome fruits alongside apple, pear and quince, a group defined by sorbitol. Salicylates also grade C, the only real chemical mark on the page. Everything else is clean: A for gluten, lactose, dairy protein, nickel, free glutamates, sulfites, nitrites and nightshades.
Sensitivities
How Medlar scores
Watch for
What trips people up
- Bletting is controlled decay, not ripening on a windowsill, and the histamine question follows from that. Medlar grades B for histamine as a baseline, but you are eating it at the point of collapse, which is when amines build up. If histamine is your trigger, eat medlar at the earliest edible stage rather than the softest, and treat any sharp or alcoholic note as a signal it has gone past bletted into fermented
- C for total FODMAPs, C for excess fructose and C for polyols. That is a portion rule rather than a ban: sorbitol runs through the whole apple and pear family, and two or three medlars in a sitting is a very different load from one
- Salicylates grade C, moderate. On its own that rarely matters, but medlar comes into season alongside a lot of other autumn fruit, and salicylate reactions are a stacking problem rather than a single food problem
- Do not confuse medlar with loquat. Loquat is sold as Japanese medlar in several languages and it grades E for total FODMAPs and E for polyols, a full two steps worse. Swapping one for the other on the strength of the shared name will mislead you badly
- The stones are large, hard and not eaten. As with other Rosaceae pips they are not something to crush, chew or put through a blender, and with medlar there is no reason to try since the flesh spoons off them easily
Diet fit
Where it fits
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FAQ
Common questions about Medlar
What is bletting, and does it make medlar high in histamine?
Bletting is the several week softening a medlar needs before it can be eaten. Picked fruit is stored after the first frosts until the hard white flesh browns and turns soft enough to spoon out, developing a flavour like spiced apple sauce. It is a controlled version of the same process that spoils fruit, and that is the honest reason to be careful. Medlar grades B for histamine, a moderate mark, but the grade describes the fruit rather than the state you eat it in, and prolonged ambient softening is exactly the condition under which biogenic amines rise. If you are histamine intolerant, eat medlar as soon as it is spoonable rather than at its softest, and stop if it tastes sharp, boozy or fermented.
Is medlar low FODMAP?
Not really. Medlar grades C for total FODMAPs, C for excess fructose and C for polyols, which puts it in moderate territory rather than either extreme. That combination is typical of pome fruit: medlar belongs to the Rosaceae along with apple, pear and quince, and sorbitol is a hallmark of that group. The practical implication is a portion rule. One medlar is a reasonable trial for most people with IBS, while a bowlful delivers a polyol and fructose load big enough to cause bloating and loose stools.
Is medlar the same as loquat?
No, and the confusion is baked into the names. Medlar is Mespilus germanica, a European autumn fruit that must be bletted before eating. Loquat is Eriobotrya japonica, an orange spring fruit eaten crisp and fresh, and it is called Japanese medlar in French, Italian and several other languages. They are both Rosaceae but they behave completely differently, and for a sensitive gut the difference is material: loquat grades E for total FODMAPs and E for polyols, while medlar grades C on both. If you have tolerated one, do not assume the other.
Is medlar high in salicylates?
Moderately. Medlar grades C for salicylates, which sits between the mild B of most tropical fruit and the D grades carried by blueberry, guava and dried fruit. On a strict elimination protocol that is enough to hold it back for the first phase. In ordinary eating it only becomes a problem through stacking, since salicylate reactions tend to reflect the whole day rather than one item. Medlar is not a food to fear on this count, but it is not a free one either.
References
Read the background
Ratings reflect the Triggerbites ingredient database and may vary with portion size and preparation.