Fruit of the Week: Quince

Name: Quince

Brand: Hero

Place of Purchase: Ames British Foods, Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: Switzerland

Price in Iowa: $6.50 for a tin of jam

Description: A yellow pomme, something in between a pear and an apple.

Flavor: Fruit: even after a frost, the fruit that I took from Iowa State campus was way too tart and astringent to enjoy. Plus, I think that it was a decorative cultivar. Jam: Flowery, tart, mildly astringent. The addition of sugar made the fruit much more palatable.

Aroma: woody, apple and pear, slightly flowery

Texture/Mouth-feel: grainy, like a pear

Notes: I was able to find a quince fruit on a tree, and it was the perfect time to harvest (right after a frost), but I quickly discovered why the first marmalade was made from these fruits. Once you add a ton of sugar, quince is pretty palatable as jam. The flowery and woody notes come through, along with the pear-apple fusion flavors. If you like pear butter or apple butter, then quince preserves will be a nice treat. The interesting thing is that humans have been eating this fruit since the beginning of civilization. So, take a bite of history and try some quince jam.