Pucker Up For Quince

There are delicacies out there which have just not caught on with our Western palates and tastebuds. Some of those foods are not far removed from their cousins which we know and enjoy deeply.

But these items themselves, though they have done yeoman’s fruit-duty centuries in the past, languish now and are relegated to the footnotes of culinary history–or to the web pages of Waterloo Region Eats.

Not just a rose by any other name, quinces, pears, and apples are members of the rose family and are known as pomes–the meaty part of their fruit is essentially the stem of the flower.

Tart and astringent ... it makes for the quince wince.

Pears and apples, yes, but quinces we are less familiar with. Think of them as pear- and apple-prototypes with central Asian origins going back several millennia. They have a sandy, gritty texture and are really (I mean really) tart thanks to their yellow skin. If you can detect a flavour in there, it would be some sort of cross between apple and pear.

The Romans called them “Cydonian apples,” and since 1870, pears have in fact been grown on quince stalks which has made them bear fruit earlier and at a lower height making for easier picking.

Bisected quince.

Quinces might be considered as one of those fruits better eaten (if at all) cooked than raw. In the cookbooks of Shakespeare’s England, it is the quince that is listed in more recipes than any other fruit, though it never caught on in North America and is now little known.

One thing that is quite remarkable about quinces is the way their whitish-yellowy flesh becomes a brilliant ruby red when cooked in a sugar syrup. When it is cooked, and with a lot of sugar, it is prepared as quince jam or paste (in France, pate de cotignac) and makes an excellent accompaniment for cheese.

One of the most fascinating factoids of quince history hails from Portugal, where some of the best quinces were once found. The Portuguese for quince is marmelo–and, hence, the word marmalade. The first marmalade was made from quinces and not oranges.

Goes great with cheese: my dad's home-made quince chutney.