Bletting is in particular a special alteration; it appears that the more austere a fruit is before this is brought on, the more it is capable ofbletting regularly.
You can also hasten thebletting process by giving firm medlars a night in the freezer. I usually pick some medlars early toblet a little indoors, as this is perfect for making jelly, whereas fully soft fruit is ideal for any other use.
For example, you wouldn't be happy if you bit into a medlar. They need to bebletted (left to go over-ripe) before you can eat them but, oncebletted, medlars taste sweet – a little bit like dates.[…]To be frank,bletting is a more polite word for "rotting".
After the period of ripeness, most fleshy fruits undergo a new kind of alteration; their flesh either rots orblets.[…] May I be forgiven for coining a word to express that peculiar bruised appearance in some fruits, calledblessi[sic] by the French, for which we have no equivalent English expression ?
Emphasis and footnote in original, and though written asblessi, the French word forbletted isbletti, and Lindley coined “blet”, suggesting an error in the text.
