The Breda Giant Medlar tree grows well in USDA zones 4-9. This fruit is thought to have been cultivated as long as 3000 years ago. The fruit is very acidic when hard and a frost must be allowed to settle on the fruit in order to blette (bleet) or ripen the fruit. Once the skin begins to shrivel the hard interior begins to soften to the consistency and flavor of spiced applesauce.