When I asked for ideas for the A-Z posts an anonymous person suggested Quinces for Q.
The Latin name is Cydonia oblonga and in the past they were associated with wedding happiness and were often presented to the newlyweds for luck.
Our word marmalade comes from the Portuguese word marmelada which was a thick paste made from quinces.
It's been many years since I wrote about the quince trees we had at the smallholding. We planted two and the photo below is after about 7 years I think.
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| The Quince trees |
I loved them for their flowers in spring. Looking like the flowers on a Magnolia before they opened.
They always fruited well and produce large, rock hard pear shaped fruit
For many years I used them to make Quince jelly - which went nicely with pork or chicken.
At the back of the village pub in my village, next to the glass recycling bins is a Japonica, which is an ornamental shrub also known as a flowering or Japanese quince. It has red flowers in spring and in autumn produces these much smaller but also rock hard fruits.
Which apparently can also be used to make jams and jellies - although you would need several dozen and a very sharp knife.
Back Tomorrow
About 20 or more years ago I made quince jelly, no, it must have been more than 30 when the children were toddlers. Someone at work was giving them away.
ReplyDeleteI keep trying to get rid of the japonica that was here whenwe moved in. I don't want the fruits, I'm not bothered about the flowers and I hate the thorns. It just reappears further along the border each year!
Next time I go to put some glass in the bottle bank I shall look more closely at the Japonica as I didn't realise it had thorns!
DeleteI made quince jelly. Once. That was enough! So much hard labour imho!
ReplyDeleteI think I made some most years that we had the trees although I also remember putting them out for sale too - I guess people bought them
DeleteHi Sue, "Anonymous" was me (Trish in Cambridgeshire). A neighbour gave me some several fruits which I added to apples and made a delicious crumble. Quince needs cooking twice as long as the apples though!
ReplyDeleteHello and thank you for the idea, nice to remember things from smallholding days
DeleteI miss the allotment, (though not the couch grass.) We planted a quince and a medlar and I made jelly and thick paste from both. I used the pressure cooker for whole quince, the slow cooker took all day to turn them deep red. I love the smell of a bowl of quince, and liked a thinly sliced quince in an apple crumble. A local market stall jam maker was always glad of the surplus.
ReplyDeleteThere was a small mystery tree at the smallholding when we moved in in 1992, it didn't seem to grow or do much and eventually got removed, a few years later that we heard from the previous owner via our neighbour that it had been a Medlar - had we of known we would have looked after it better!
DeleteI love quince jelly for its sharp fruity taste. Can you also get something called quince cheese which you slice to have with meats and cheese? Catriona
ReplyDeleteI think that would be like a paste then dried - never tried to do it
DeleteI'm fascinated by all things Quincy, and I've learned things reading this.
ReplyDeleteAlison in Devon x
I miss the smallholding when I write about it!
DeleteI made quince jelly once, but have never had enough fruit - i.e. more than one or two - in recent years to do anything, even supposing I could summon the energy! Lovely colour, though.
ReplyDeleteIt's a long job to make it
DeleteI've never eaten any quince or any quince jelly and have no idea what it tastes like.
ReplyDeleteSort of fruity- but different!
DeleteYour quince tree flower and leaf are lovely. I do not see quince trees in Massachusetts. I'd most likely have one if they were sold here.
ReplyDeleteThe jam also sounds really good.
I wonder if they are mainly European?
DeleteI've only ever used quinces once when our neighbour back in Wales gave me some from her tree. I added them to apples for some jam, they have quite a distinctive flavour don't they.
ReplyDeleteThey are supposed to be vaguely scented but made a good jelly
DeleteI once made Grumichama jelly from a tree in the back yard of a rental - and I have made a Lillypilly pickle but never anything from Quince. When I was first reading I thought "is the marmalade in my fridge from Dad this fruit" then realised I was confusing comquat.
ReplyDeleteSome wonderful names there - I shall need to look up what they are!
DeleteMy sister desperately wanted to make quince jelly. On my recent visit to Suffolk we were on quince patrol, the car stopping at any quince tree we saw and my sister hopping out to ask the owner if she could buy some. We did discover a new to us treasure of an old orchard in the grounds of the old convent in Ditchingham. Quince and medlar trees and and heritage pear and apple trees, some not yet identified.
ReplyDelete