can anyone name this orange fruit that tastes a bit like a yellow plum?

[thisparentinggig]

It's a bit battered (bought cheaply in the market) hence the brown spots. Any ideas?

You can see the stone/seed is totally smooth, no fibres sticking out, unlike apricots/plums/peaches. Actually 2 stones/seeds in some fruit, and sometimes just one. Stone/seed has a flatter side and a convex side.

The skin peels off easily in large swathes. The inner pithy part around the stone/seed also peels off, less easily though.

It looks like a Sharon Fruit or Persimmon

Loquat AKA nísperos?

Sharon fruit

Sharon fruit don't have stones.

It's a nespola in Italian, so what Sashh said. Persimmons/Sharon fruit don't have big stones. I had no idea you could get loquats/nespole in the uk!

Izlet

We have an Asian supermarket near by, I mean supermarket not corner shop calling itself one. I frequently see things there I can't identify. If you have one near try them out.

They sell them in Asian supermarkets? I didn't think they were sold much outside the Med. they are certainly waning in popularity in Italy and tend to get bought by older people, like my mum. Probably because they're always marked and bruised and not pretty (and don't really taste of much). I must admit I'm not a fan myself.

I didn't know they were called loquat, I've always known them as "medlar". They are only good when they look a bit battered - the brown spots are a sign that they are ripe. My friend has a massive tree in her garden.

A true medlar will have the non stalk end that looks like a dogs arse, I once heard it described on a tv cookery show.
My sister gave me one of those thingies pictured above. It had a slightly perfumed flavour with a tomato texture. Pips like a lychee. Wont bother with those again.

Medlar (nespola in Italian, never had one in UK). More stone and skin than fruit, but absolutely delicious. One of my favourites!

Does the medlar tree grow in the UK ever or is urbinosparrot's friend's garden somewhere even hotter/sunnier?

I love the cultural richness on this board!

It's not what you'd call a medlar in the UK. Here, it'd be known as a loquat or a Chinese or Japanese plum. I think that the word nespera/nespola is (also) used for our (Common) Medlar in some places. Confusingly.

This is a medlar. As MERLY says, it has a dog's arse end.

Also, to eat it, you have it let it, er rot a bit. It's called bletting. I have a medlar tree.

Dog's arses.

Yes they do grow here - my grandmother had a medlar tree in her garden (SE England).

It's a loquat. Had a tree growing up in SA. Not the tastiest fruit and rather dry.