The Rural Voice, 1999-03, Page 43By Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
Last November a friend offered
me a gift that brought a rush of
memories of something I had not
enjoyed for a long time. Wrapped
carefully in tissue was a large round
golden fruit, very firm, almost waxy
to the touch, which was topped off
with a pair of sage coloured leaves,
fuzzy and soft to the touch on the
underside and almost fabric -like in
texture on the topside. It was a ripe
quince and its perfume was sweet and
exotic. My senses immediately took
me back to the kitchen of my
childhood with my great grandmother
standing over a steaming kettle of
quince with rows of jars filled with
pink quince jelly. I haven't
enjoyed that flavour since she died.
I immediately decided that I should
have a quince tree in our garden in
memory of "Gommie". It would
seem the quest will be easier said
than done.
It you are not familiar with
quince it is a novelty now but once
was a piece de resistance on the
pioneer table. Quince were first
introduced
to western Europe via the Arab
culture. During the first millennium
B.C. the warriors of Islam swept over
the Mediterranean countries bringing
with them foods for their own
enjoyment that later became
commercial crops. Quince arrived
with honey from Isfahan (Caucasus
region). Its Latin name Cydonia
oblonga comes from Cydon, a city in
Crete, where the quince seems to
have first attracted attention, at least
the attention of someone able to
publicize it.
The Greeks and Romans
associated quince with love,
happiness and fruitfulness and
dedicated it to Venus. There has been
a hint that these were the golden
apples awarded to victorious
warriors.
A hard, astringent, dry fruit, it
looks somewhat like a squat knobby
pear with a fuzzy skin that gets
smoother as it ripens. You cannot
pick one up and munch away on it
Gardening
Romance of the Quince
like an apple or pear as it has the
power to pucker the sweetest of
faces. The yellow flesh cooks to a
pale pink and makes delicious jelly. It
can be cooked the same as apples in
pies and cobblers but needs a little
extra time in the oven. It is unusual
to find quince today and it could be
due in no small part to the invasion of
convenience foods. There have been
a number of years where Mom didn't
make jam and jellies since it was
cheaper to buy them ready made.
And since quince are only edible
when cooked it makes them a
poor choice for quick.
convenient snacks.
The tree
itself is
dwarf in
height (10 to 20
feet although I have never
seen it over 10 feet) and very thickety
in appearance. Very well behaved, it
doesn't drop branches, send up
excess water shoots, or off shoots at
the base. It makes a splendid focal
point in the garden or a wonderful old
-fashioned hedge.
Since the quince has this
marvelous dwarf habit it has been
used to develop dwarf pear trees. In
fact in researching this column my
first resources were only concerned
with its dwarfing ability on pears.
Quince prospers in well -drained
warm soil although it will get along
in other soils including heavy clay. It
enjoys a bit of shallow cultivation
and mulching is preferred although
any of the trees I have seen are grown
in the lawn and are neither cultivated
nor mulched. It requires very light if
any, pruning and keep in mind that it
' fruits on new wood. Keep an eye
out for fire blight, promptly
breaking off any blackened branches
and burning them. Don't confuse
this with the blackish knots of the
trunksand branches, which are
normal characteristic of old trees
and should not be cut off. It is
hardy to zone 5 and needs only
itself to set fruit.
Quince ripen very late into the
year and are ready for picking v. hen
they turn yellow. While they niay be
hard to the squeeze the skin is easily
bruised.
So where do you get a quince tree?
You just don't see them at your local
nurseries and have to go one step
further and call a grower. My quest
took me to Shelly Paulocik of
Woodwinds Nursery near Bluevale.
If you are looking for heirloom fruit
trees or fruit trees suitable to your
space and garden conditions, Shelly
is the lady to talk to. Woodwinds
did work with quince rootstock a few
years ago with an eye to developing a
line of dwarf pear trees but were not
very successful.
Shelly did refer to a publication
Fruits of Ontario published at the
turn of the century, where two
varieties of quince were listed. The
Orange variety ripened in late
September or October and the
Champion variety in midwinter.
Both varieties can be found in old
gardens today.
Shelly did offer me a nursery in
Montreal that carried the rootstock of
the Orange Quince.
I could try rooting a cutting from
another quince tree. Apparently it
can be successful with one to two
year-old wood. In the meantime I am
going to try growing a quince tree
from the seeds of my gift. 1 know
the seeds may be a fickle source,
not growing true to its parent,
but it is worth a try. After all don't
alt gardeners enjoy challenges like
this'?0
Rhea Hamilton -Seeger and her
husband raise two children at their
home near Auburn. She is a skilled
cook and gardener.
MARCH 1999 39