Dry Martin

Illustration from 1894

Dry Martin is an old French pear variety that is widespread in Germany, especially in the Saarland , but is also less common in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia .

Origin and Distribution

The origin of the Trockener Martin variety has not been passed down. According to André Leroy , the first records exist in France from 1530. In Germany, the variety was introduced at the end of the 18th century. The name refers to the approximate ripening time around St. Martin's Day and the hard and dry pulp .

In Germany, the dry Martin was especially widespread in western and central Germany. There were important deposits in the Saar - Moselle region and in the Rhineland , where the most productive regions were in the Bergisches Land and on the Middle Rhine . Until the 1950s, the dry Martin was an economically important variety in these areas; today it is only found sporadically in orchards .

In the French department of Haute-Savoie and in Italy, especially in the western Alpine valleys ( Piedmont , Aosta Valley , Maritime Alps ) and in the Po Valley , dry martin is still a specialty today and is used in upscale gastronomy. The pear is used both for desserts and side dishes.

The Association of Horticultural Associations Saarland / Rhineland-Palatinate named the Dry Martin variety as the local orchard variety of the year 2009. However, the variety was not Dry Martin, but another, as yet unknown pear variety.

description

Dry Martin

The fruit is mostly brown-red in color, medium-sized and heavily rusted . The rough shell shows clearly pronounced lenticels . Depending on the variety, the ripening period is between mid-October and mid-November. The pear can be used until March. The dry Martin is considered to be a productive economic pear and is comparatively undemanding; the trees also achieve their yields on less rich soils or in rough locations. The fruit is mainly used for drying , baking and as cooked or juice fruit .

Synonyms

Alternative regional names for the pear are red, Wendels, Martins, Esels, Gras, Gauls or Goldbirne. The terms Graue Lederbirne and Winterpfalzgrafenbirne are also common in some regions. In France and Italy the variety is called Martin Sec.

In historical literature, the Juffernbirne is used as a synonymous name for dry Martin; From today's perspective, however, it is an independent pear variety, albeit very similar to dry Martin.

literature

• Franz Jahn , Eduard Lucas , Johann Georg Conrad Oberdieck : Illustrated manual of fruit science . (In ten volumes). Fifth volume: pears . Verlag der Dorn'schen Buchhandlung, Ravensburg 1866, p. 521 f . ( PDF; 282 KB ).
• Walter Hartmann : Color Atlas of Old Fruit Types . 5th revised edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-8001-0316-4 , pp. 282 .
• District Office Würzburg (Hrsg.): Preservation of old pome fruit varieties in the district of Würzburg . 2nd Edition. 2015 ( PDF; 889 KB - brochure).

Web links

Commons : Trockener Martin  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Dry Martin in the fruit variety database

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Herbert Theißen (editor): Local and regional fruit varieties in the Rhineland - threatened with extinction . Ed .: LVR-Netzwerk Landschaftliche Kulturpflege with the biological stations in the Rhineland. Druck & Verlagshaus Mainz, Aachen 2010, p. 118 f .
2. ↑ Dry Martin and Scheckenkirsche - The regional orchards of the year 2009. Naturschutzbund Deutschland, accessed on March 1, 2016 . 
3. ^ Wilfried Marquardt: Dry Martin. (PDF; 86 KB) Association of Horticultural Associations Saarland / Rhineland-Palatinate, March 2011, accessed on March 1, 2016 . 
4. ↑ Hans-Joachim Bannier: Juffernbirne. Fruit variety conservation network, April 2015, accessed on March 1, 2016 .