Comments on: The Golden Quince

By: JudyThomas

JudyThomas — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:06:46 +0000

I was at the garden last weekend (June, 2010), visiting from Virginia, and much admired the quince trees. I spoke with an informative and helpful volunteer, but did not ask all my questions. Do you need to severely prune the quince trees to get them to their current compact and twisted form? I hope to plant two this fall.

By: Deirdre Larkin

Deirdre Larkin — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:53:28 +0000

As always, staff members and volunteers made use of whatever windfalls were available for preserves and other favorite recipes. (We don’t pick the quince, but gather them up as they drop to the ground). Relatively few fruits ripened soundly this year—some big winds in early autumn knocked a good many down well before they were ready. (If the fruits aren’t ripe enough to be fragrant, they won’t have any taste). The quince are also host to apple maggots, which cause malformations. We’re addressing this problem with the help of our consulting arborist, using organic methods. It is important to pick up any affected fruits, because the life-cycle of the maggot, which emerges from the fruit to winter over in the soil below the tree, and emerges from the ground as a winged insect in summer to re-enter the quince, is thus interrupted. We’ll be placing sticky red spheres in the trees in early July, to fool and trap the insects as they emerge. For more on this common orchard pest, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_maggot

I was able to get a couple of quarts of juice from about 5 lbs. of quince this fall, using a steam juicer. You simply cut the fruit up roughly and place it in the steamer basket—there is no need to peel or core it, which saves quite a bit of work. The steam extracts all the color and savor. I used it in a punch.

By: nbmandel

nbmandel — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 15:52:13 +0000

Deirdre, did Cloisters staff get a chance to make quince preserves this year? I’d love to see a follow-up post if so.

By: Deirdre Larkin

Deirdre Larkin — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:03:52 +0000

Dionysus—

I visited Chania and environs in wildflower season about fifteen years ago. It was an unforgettable experience, and I saw many plants that we grow here at The Cloisters. I don’t recall seeing any quince orchards, but there was a lot to see, including the wonderful market, where I bought a lot of herbs and spices. I see that the web page for Chania does have a recipe for quince marmalade. http://www.chania.eu/tourism/
Do keep your eyes open—I would be interested to know if quince are still found in your vicinity.

By: Dionysus

Dionysus — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:47:57 +0000

Interesting to note the comments about Quince being named in Cydonia, which as you say is modern day Chania, because although we only live a few kilometres fom there I’ve never seen any growing in the area - I shall have to keep my eyes open!

By: Deirdre Larkin

Deirdre Larkin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:53:30 +0000

Thank you both for the information, and for the very good link, Marie. Many visitors to The Cloisters gardens who are unfamiliar with the orchard fruit have flowering quince on their properties, and will be happy to know that they can successfully substitute the fruits of Chaenomeles japonica for those of Cydonia oblonga in preserves and other recipes. I haven't yet added Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World to my cookbook collection, but I plan on it.

By: 5oclockteaspoon

5oclockteaspoon — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:40:30 +0000

Deirdre,

So far I have only used the shrub fruit with the tree fruit, although I would like to experiment with a shrub fruit tart. Last year I combined all of my tree and shrub quince to make a huge batch of quince jam. I could not detect any difference in taste from pure tree quince jam.
“Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World” by Lilia Zaouali has several sweet and savory quince recipes.

By: Marie Viljoen

Marie Viljoen — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:18:27 +0000

Deirdre, one can preserve the fruit of the flowering quince, and use the sweetly preserved fruit as one would the quince with duck, lamb etc, but there is obviously a lot less “meat” to the smaller fruit.

Heres a great link about them:

http://nami-nami.blogspot.com/2007/09/beautiful-flowers-fragrant-fruit.html

By: Deirdre Larkin

Deirdre Larkin — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:56:45 +0000

5oclockteaspoon,

My favorite savory recipe, for Duck with Quinces spiced with cinnamon, is from Paula Wolfert’s Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean. I think it is a Syrian dish—my cookbooks are all in my kitchen in the country and not here in Manhattan, so I can’t make sure.

I have never cooked with the fruit of flowering quince—do you use them interchangeably with the tree fruit, or do you reserve them for certain dishes? Many visitors to The Cloisters who are not familiar with the orchard tree have flowering quince in their gardens.

By: 5oclockteaspoon

5oclockteaspoon — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:27:32 +0000

I enjoyed reading about the quince and its medicinal and culinary uses. Islamic cuisine of the Middle East includes many sweet and savory dishes made with quince as well.
I have flowering shrub and tree varieties and cook with the fruit from both species. It is indeed a wonderful fruit that is unfortunately rarely used for cooking in the US.