Medlars orginally came from the Caucasus region, Turkey, Georgia and the Balkans. After the first world war, the popularity of medlar fruit waned, and it became almost forgotten. Jane Steward has been a huge force in the revival of this ancient fruit. Jane Steward is the holder of the Plant Heritage National Collection of medlar trees since 2020. She owns Eastgate Larder, specialist maker of medlar preserves. Her vision and strategy is to revive awareness of the medlar in our gardens and kitchens. She cares for 115 trees in her medlar orchard at her Eastgate in Norfolk home, where she hand-makes preserves, and compounds Norfolk Medlar Gin Liqueur.