Comments on: Produce Vendor, Florence, Italy

By: izang

izang — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 04:45:17 +0000

what wonderful pics, MM……feels like i am also travelling with you……your travel stories are described so vividly……that’s why i love your blog…..

By: Apicio

Apicio — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 10:24:51 +0000

They can very well be either but more likely loquat since they avoid selling medlar because they can be inedibly tart if not ripened properly. Anyway, it is the Spanish term nispero that they applied to a New World fruit sapodilla, our chico, that gave the Jamaicans their term for the same fruit, nieceberry.

By: RST

RST — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 05:27:28 +0000

I have had what were certainly (Japanese) loquats (perhaps imported from Israel) in Spain and they were called nispero (accent on first syllable), which is the Spanish name for the European medlar). Just looked up my reference book: medlar is Mespilus not Eriobotrya, sorry for pulling that out of my head without fact-checking. But they are definitely related.

By: RST

RST — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 05:01:19 +0000

Medlars and loquats are related of course: both Eriobotrya and loquats sometimes called Japanese medlars (to distinguish it from European medlars). I am pretty sure that the name “nespola” applies to both medlar and loquat.

By: RST

RST — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 04:54:49 +0000

Oops. Just read through the comments. Medlar was my first thought but Apicio might be right. Those might be (either Italian-grown or imported) loquats (which are East Asian in origin) and not the fruit of the European medlar.

By: RST

RST — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 04:46:54 +0000

Nespola. AKA medlar.

By: lee

lee — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 00:35:44 +0000

the squash flowers are photogenic, pang image bank!

By: linda

linda — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 00:26:56 +0000

oh,what a market!! I always get excited everytime I see a display of fresh produce especially tomatoes of the field varieties and those berries looked so fantabulous!

MM,thank you so much for sharing!

By: hchie

hchie — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 23:21:41 +0000

Lovely photos, MM.I like the artichoke and pepper one.

By: Apicio

Apicio — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 15:33:42 +0000

They appear more like Loquats (Eriobotrya japonica) to me than passion fruit which has buff waxy skin instead of the powdery bloom that is in your shot.