K. Edgcombe
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| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 12:31 am
Post subject: Re: Quince Season |
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| Quote: |
The ones that grew in my yard when I were a lad were extremely sour and
hard as rocks -- only to be eaten on a dare. My mouth waters, not in a
good way, just thinking about them. But that quince bush was
probably planted for its ornamental, not gustatorial, qualities. No
doubt the varieties meant for eating are more, um, edible.
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There are of course two totally unrelated fruits known as quinces. The
ornamental plant known here as japonica (can't remember its other name) has
roundish fruits which can be eaten or made into jelly, though several books
assert that they are totally inedible.
The "real" quince grows on a tree and is pear-shaped. One of the plants is
chaenomeles and I think the other also begins with C, *and* the names got
changed some years ago, so gardening books of different ages use the names
differently.
Are you confused enough yet?
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PR
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 1:12 am
Post subject: Re: Quince Season |
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K. Edgcombe wrote"
| Quote: | I wrote:
Well, it's finished. The four pounds of smiling, fragrant golden quinces
which once sat in a big glass bowl on my counter have been converted,
after
a week's worth of deliberating, into six big jars of clear sparkling
quince
Now then. I grow quinces in my garden, and have been hopelessly
disappointed
in them. Everyone tells me they smell wonderful especially when ripe, but
mine
never ripen - if I leave them on the tree they rot and eventually fall
off; if
I bring them indoors they rot before becoming remotely edible - I can't
get a
knife through them, let alone my teeth, so I couldn't eat them raw.
You can poach them, when they taste of very little but are mildly
pleasant, or
you can make jelly which in my experience also tastes of very little.
Where is this wonderful scent and flavour that other people go on about?
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I'm not sure, but assuming we're talking about the same variety of quince,
which I believe we are (big, greenish yellow, similar to a pear or maybe an
apple), there is one possibility I can think of: are you in Britain? I've
heard that in Britain they don't do too well. Do they need to ripen on the
tree to be good? If so, perhaps British weather often precludes it. I've
heard the ones from the south of France are nice... try them if you ever see
them and give us a report. The quinces I used were from California, and they
did indeed have a lovely fragrance and weren't very hard, not even at the
core.
Come to think of it, does pectin decrease upon ripening? Maybe that's why my
jelly didn't set... |
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Ray Heindl
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 4:45 am
Post subject: Re: Quince Season |
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ke10@cus.cam.ac.uk (K. Edgcombe) wrote:
| Quote: | There are of course two totally unrelated fruits known as quinces.
The ornamental plant known here as japonica (can't remember its
other name) has roundish fruits which can be eaten or made into
jelly, though several books assert that they are totally inedible.
The "real" quince grows on a tree and is pear-shaped. One of the
plants is chaenomeles and I think the other also begins with C,
*and* the names got changed some years ago, so gardening books of
different ages use the names differently.
Are you confused enough yet?
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Now that you mention it, I do recall hearing the term "japonica" for
the bush. So that must have been what it was. I don't know about the
"totally", but I'd definitely call the fruit inedible.
This page gives only two names: Japonica and flowering quince:
http://www.arhomeandgarden.org/plantoftheweek/articles/japonica.htm
--
Ray Heindl
(remove the Xs to reply)
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