Quince: Quince Eaters

» Jojo - Quince Eaters

When I was a kid my mom had both japanese quince and Cydonia growing in the garden. Us kids would cut them off the tree and eat them right there, often before they were ripe. They're incredibly sour, and I can't see doing that now, but they were very good then, along with lemons, rhubarb...

A few years ago I was working in a garden store and a guy came in looking for a real quince tree, not a flowering one. At that time they were almost impossible to get, but I found one for him at a heritage fruit place. Now you see them all over the place, and I think they've gained popularity again because of the search for something different and their beauty in the small garden. The flowers are lovely, and the leaves are large, greyish, rounded and healthy, rarely getting spots like those of apple and pears.

They way my mother wound up with hers was actually by mistake. She had a pear tree which was infected with a disease at a young age so she cut it down. The next year the root-stock sprouted and a healthy cydonia quince arose. Apparently, pear trees were often grafted onto Cydonia root stock. I wonder if they still do that?

-- posted by Jojo