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Quince
Fruit and tree illustration by Pancrace Bessa, before 1835
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Rosaceae
Subfamily:	Amygdaloideae
Tribe:	Maleae
Subtribe:	Malinae
Genus:	Cydonia Mill.
Species:	C. oblonga
Binomial name
Cydonia oblonga Mill.
Synonyms
C. vulgaris

The quince (/ˈkwɪns/; Cydonia oblonga) is the sole member of the genus Cydonia in the Malinae subtribe (which contains apples, pears, and other fruits) of the Rosaceae family. It is a deciduous tree that bears hard, aromatic bright golden-yellow pome fruit, similar in appearance to a pear. Ripe quince fruits are hard, tart, and astringent. They are eaten raw or processed into jam, quince cheese, or alcoholic drinks.

The quince tree is sometimes grown as an ornamental plant for its attractive pale pink blossoms and as a miniature bonsai plant. In ancient Greece, the word for quince was used slightly ribaldly to signify teenage breasts.

Description

Quinces are shrubs or small trees up to 4 to 6 metres (13 to 20 feet) high and 3 to 4.5 metres (10 to 15 feet) wide. Young twigs are covered in a grey down. The leaves are oval, and are downy on the underside. The solitary flowers, produced in late spring after the leaves, are white or pink.

The ripe fruit is aromatic but remains hard; gritty stone cells are dispersed through the flesh. It is larger than many apples, weighing as much as 1 kilogram (2.2 lb), often pear-shaped but sometimes roughly spherical.

The seeds contain nitriles, common in the seeds of the rose family. In the stomach, enzymes or stomach acid or both cause some of the nitriles to be hydrolysed and produce toxic hydrogen cyanide, which is a volatile gas. The seeds are toxic only if eaten in large quantities.

• Flower
• Foliage and ripening fruit

History

Quince is native to the Hyrcanian forests south of the Caspian Sea. From that centre of origin it was spread radially by Neolithic farmers, c. 5000 to 3000 BC, to secondary centres including Turkey, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Syria. In turn, landraces of quince were then distributed across Europe, Russia, China, India, and North Africa. It reached Britain in the 16th century. Settlers brought it to North America in the 17th century, and to Central and South America in the 18th century.

The fruit was known in the Akkadian language as supurgillu; "quinces" (collective plural), which was borrowed into Aramaic as ספרגלין sparglin; it was known in Judea during the Mishnaic Hebrew as פרישין prishin (a loanword from Jewish Palestinian Aramaic פרישין "the miraculous "); quince flourished in the heat of the Mesopotamian plain, where apples did not. It was cultivated from an archaic period around the Mediterranean. Some ancients called the fruit "golden apples".

The Greeks associated it with Kydonia on Crete, as the "Cydonian pome", and Theophrastus, in his Enquiry into Plants, noted that quince was one of many fruiting plants that do not come true from seed.

As a sacred emblem of Aphrodite, a quince figured in a lost poem of Callimachus that survives in a prose epitome: seeing his beloved in the courtyard of the temple of Aphrodite, Acontius plucks a quince from the "orchard of Aphrodite", inscribes its skin and furtively rolls it at the feet of her illiterate nurse, whose curiosity aroused, hands it to the girl to read aloud, and the girl finds herself saying "I swear by Aphrodite that I will marry Acontius". A vow thus spoken in the goddess's temenos cannot be broken. Pliny the Elder mentions "numerous varieties" of quince in his Natural History and describes four.

Quinces are ripe on the tree only briefly: the Roman cookbook De re coquinaria of Apicius specifies in attempting to keep quinces, to select perfect unbruised fruits and keep stems and leaves intact, submerged in honey and reduced wine.

Taxonomy

Cydonia is in the subfamily Amygdaloideae.

The modern name originated in the 14th century as a plural of quoyn, via Old French cooin from Latin cotoneum malum / cydonium malum, ultimately from Greek κυδώνιον μῆλον, kydonion melon "Kydonian apple".

Cultivation

Quince is a hardy, drought-tolerant shrub which adapts to many soils of low to medium pH. It tolerates both shade and sun, but sunlight is required to produce larger flowers and ensure fruit ripening. It is a hardy plant that does not require much maintenance, and tolerates years without pruning or major insect and disease problems.

Quince is cultivated on all continents in warm-temperate and temperate climates. It requires a cooler period of the year, with temperatures under 7 °C (45 °F), to flower properly. Propagation is done by cuttings or layering; the former method produces better plants, but they take longer to mature than by the latter. Named cultivars are propagated by cuttings or layers grafted on quince rootstock. Propagation by seed is not used commercially. Quince forms thick bushes, which must be pruned and reduced into a single stem to grow fruit-bearing trees for commercial use. The tree is self-pollinated, but it produces better yields when cross-pollinated.

Fruits are typically left on the tree to ripen fully. In warmer climates, it may become soft to the point of being edible, but additional ripening may be required in cooler climates. They are harvested in late autumn, before first frosts. Quince is used as rootstock for certain pear cultivars.

In Europe, quinces are commonly grown in central and southern areas where the summers are sufficiently hot for the fruit to fully ripen. They are not grown in large amounts; typically one or two quince trees are grown in a mixed orchard with several apples and other fruit trees. In the 18th-century New England colonies, for example, there was always a quince at the lower corner of the vegetable garden, Ann Leighton notes in records of Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Newburyport, Massachusetts. Charlemagne directed that quinces be planted in well-stocked orchards. Quinces in England are first recorded in about 1275, when Edward I had some planted at the Tower of London.

• Quince nursery
• Fruits in tree

Pests and diseases

Quince is subject to a variety of pest insects including aphids, scale insects, mealybugs, and moth caterpillars such as leafrollers (Tortricidae) and codling moths.

While quince is a hardy shrub, it may develop fungal diseases in hot weather, resulting in premature leaf fall. Quince leaf blight, caused by fungus Diplocarpon mespili, presents a threat in wet summers, causing severe leaf spotting and early defoliation, affecting fruit to a lesser extent. Cedar-quince rust, caused by Gymnosporangium clavipes, requires two hosts to complete its life cycle, one usually a juniper, and the other a member of the Rosaceae. Appearing as red excrescence on various parts of the plant, it may affect quinces grown near junipers.

Production

Quince production – 2021
Country	(tonnes)
Turkey	192,012
China	111,377
Uzbekistan	97,536
Iran	90,564
Morocco	54,641
World	697,563
Source: UN FAOSTAT

In 2021, world production of quinces was 697,563 tonnes, with Turkey and China accounting for 43% of the world total (table).

Cultivars

Quince cultivars include:

The cultivars 'Vranja' Nenadovic and 'Serbian Gold' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

• Russian 'Aromatnaya' quinces
• Ripe Constantinople apple quinces from the Vogelsberg

Uses

Nutrition

A raw quince is 84% water, 15% carbohydrates, and contains negligible fat and protein (table). In a 100-gram (3+1⁄2-ounce) reference amount, the fruit provides 238 kilojoules (57 kilocalories) of food energy and a moderate amount of vitamin C (18% of the Daily Value), with no other micronutrients in significant percentage of the Daily Value (table).

Culinary use

Quinces are appreciated for their intense aroma, flavour, and tartness. However, most varieties are too hard and tart to be eaten raw. They may be cooked or roasted and used for jams, marmalade, jellies, or pudding. A few varieties, such as 'Aromatnaya' and 'Kuganskaya', can be eaten raw. High in pectin, they are used to make jam, jelly and quince pudding, or they may be peeled, then roasted, baked or stewed; pectin levels diminish as the fruit ripens. Long cooking with sugar turns the flesh of the fruit red due to the presence of pigmented anthocyanins.

The strong flavour means they can be added in small quantities to apple pies and jam. Adding a diced quince to apple sauce enhances the taste of the apple sauce. The term "marmalade", originally meaning a quince jam, derives from marmelo, the Portuguese word for this fruit.

Quince cheese or quince jelly is a firm, sticky, sweet reddish hard paste made by slowly cooking down the quince fruit with sugar, and originating from the Iberian peninsula. It is called dulce de membrillo in the Spanish-speaking world, where it is eaten with manchego cheese.

Quince is used in the Levant, especially in Syria. It is added to either chicken or kibbeh to create an intense and unique taste such as with kibbeh safarjaliyeh.

• Quince cheese
• Levantine kibbeh safarjaliyeh, beef stew in quince sauce
• Quince Rakija, Serbia

Alcoholic drink

In the Balkans, quince eau-de-vie (rakija) is made. Ripe fruits of sweeter varieties are washed and cleared of rot and seeds, then crushed or minced, mixed with cold or boiling sweetened water and yeast, and left for several weeks to ferment. The fermented mash is distilled once, obtaining a 20–30 ABV, or twice, producing an approximately 60% ABV liquor. The two distillates may be mixed or diluted with distilled water to obtain the final product, containing 42–43% ABV.

In the Alsace region of France and the Valais region of Switzerland, liqueur de coing made from quince is used as a digestif.

In Carolina in 1709, John Lawson allowed that he was "not a fair judge of the different sorts of Quinces, which they call Brunswick, Portugal and Barbary", but he noted "of this fruit they make a wine or liquor which they call Quince-Drink, and which I approve of beyond any that their country affords, though a great deal of cider and perry is there made, The Quince-Drink most commonly purges."

Ornamental

Quince is one of the most popular species for deciduous bonsai specimens, and is widely grown for its attractive flowers.

Cultural associations

Ancient Greek poets such as Ibycus and Aristophanes used quinces (kydonia) as a mildly ribald term for teenage breasts. In Plutarch's Lives, Solon is said to have decreed that "bride and bridegroom shall be shut into a chamber, and eat a quince together." The hero Hercules is associated with golden apples; these are thought by some scholars probably to have been quinces. When a baby is born in the Balkans, a quince tree is planted as a symbol of fertility, love and life. Edward Lear's 1870 nonsense poem The Owl and the Pussycat contains the lines

They dined on mince, and slices of quince
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon.

Kate Young writes in The Guardian that the poem may be nonsense, but that slices of quince work well with a meringue and whipped cream dessert.

• Farnese Hercules holding 3 'golden apples' or quinces. Copy of 3rd century AD statue
• Quince in a fruit basket
  Caravaggio, 1597–1600
• Quince in a still life
  Juan Sánchez Cotán, 1600–1603
• A picnic at night,
  by Mohammad Kassim Tabrizi, miniature c. 1650
• Still-life of quinces
  Vincent van Gogh, 1887

See also

• List of culinary fruits

References

1. Plummer, J. (2021). "Cydonia oblonga". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T61611928A61611931. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-2.RLTS.T61611928A61611931.en. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
2. ^ "View crop: Cydonia oblonga". Food and Agriculture Organization. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
3. "Cydonia oblonga (F): quince". Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
4. "Cydonia oblonga Quince". Plants For A Future.
5. Zohary, Daniel; Hopf, Maria; Weiss, Ehud (2012). Domestication of Plants in the Old World: The Origin and Spread of Domesticated Plants in Southwest Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean Basin. Oxford University Press. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-19-954906-1.
6. Brickell, Christopher (2008). A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants. London: Dorling Kindersley. p. 1136. ISBN 978-1405332965.
7. ^ Abdollahi, Hamid (2021). "Quince". Temperate fruits. Apple Academic Press. pp. 183–246. ISBN 9781003045861.
8. Lauffenburger, Olivier (2006). "supurgillu". The Hittite Grammar Homepage, Akkadian Dictionary. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007 – via premiumwanadoo.com.
9. Maimonides (1967). "1:6". Mishnah commentary to tractate Uksin (original Judeo-Arabic אלספרג׳ל (Mossad HaRav Kook ed.). Jerusalem.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
10. Lyle, Katie Letcher (2010) . The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants, Mushrooms, Fruits, and Nuts: How to Find, Identify, and Cook Them (2nd ed.). Guilford, Connecticut: FalconGuides. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-59921-887-8. OCLC 560560606.
11. Theophrastus. "Quince produces wild quince". Enquiry.
12. Skinner, Marilyn B. (2003). "Carmina Battiadae". Catullus in Verona: a Reading of the Elegiac Libellus. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. pp. 15ff. ISBN 978-0-8142-0937-0.
13. Pliny the Elder. Natural History. pp. xv.10.11.
14. Lacus Curtius. Apicius.
15. Potter, D.; Eriksson, T.; Evans, R. C.; et al. (2007). "Phylogeny and classification of Rosaceae" (PDF). Plant Systematics and Evolution. 266 (1–2): 5–43. Bibcode:2007PSyEv.266....5P. doi:10.1007/s00606-007-0539-9. S2CID 16578516. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 October 2011. .
16. ^ Carlton, Deb (2013). "Quince". In Cumo, Christopher (ed.). Encyclopedia of Cultivated Plants: From Acacia to Zinnia, Volume III. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. pp. 855–858. ISBN 978-1-59884-775-8.
17. Leighton, Ann (1986) . American Gardens in the Eighteenth Century: "For Use Or for Delight". Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 978-0-8702-3531-3.
18. Fearnley-Whittingstall, Hugh (7 October 2011). "Quince recipes". The Guardian.
19. Waterworth, Kristi (5 April 2021). "Common Pests Of Quince Trees – Tips On Treating Quince Tree Pests". Gardening Know How. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
20. "Quince leaf blight". Royal Horticultural Society. 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
21. "Cedar-Quince Rust". Missouri Botanical Garden. 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
22. "Quince production in 2021; Crops/World regions/Production total from picklists". UN Food and Agriculture Organization Corporate Statistical Database. 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
23. "Agroforestry news quince cydonia oblonga". agroforestry.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 October 2006.
24. "Cydonia oblonga 'Vranja' Nenadovic". Royal Horticultural Society. Archived from the original on 17 May 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
25. "Cydonia oblonga 'Serbian Gold' (F)". Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
26. United States Food and Drug Administration (2024). "Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels". FDA. Archived from the original on 27 March 2024. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
27. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Food and Nutrition Board; Committee to Review the Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium (2019). "Chapter 4: Potassium: Dietary Reference Intakes for Adequacy". In Oria, Maria; Harrison, Meghan; Stallings, Virginia A. (eds.). Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium. The National Academies Collection: Reports funded by National Institutes of Health. Washington, DC: National Academies Press (US). pp. 120–121. doi:10.17226/25353. ISBN 978-0-309-48834-1. PMID 30844154. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
28. Online Database: National Germplasm Resources Laboratory. Beltsville, Maryland: USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
29. Alexander, S. (2004). The cook's companion. Penguin Australia. p. 609. ISBN 978-1-9209-8900-2.
30. McGee, H. (2004). On Food and Cooking. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 357. ISBN 978-0-684-80001-1.
31. Wilson, C. Anne (1999) . The Book of Marmalade: Its Antecedents, Its History and Its Role in the World Today (Together with a Collection of Recipes for Marmalades and Marmalade Cookery) (Revised ed.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-1727-6.
32. Harper, Douglas (2001). "Marmalade". Online Etymology Dictionary – via Dictionary.com.
33. Ferraz, Rafaela (5 December 2018). "Why Portugal's Marmelada Tastes Nothing Like Marmalade". Gastro Obscura. Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
34. "Quince Jelly". BBC Good Food. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
35. Marcus, Jacqueline B. (2013). "Global Food and Nutrition: Spanish Cheese". Culinary Nutrition. Elsevier. pp. 545–605. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-391882-6.00012-1. ISBN 978-0-12-391882-6. Manchego is made from pasteurized sheep's milk. It pairs with salmon or lamb and is often eaten with dulce de membrillo (quince paste).
36. "Kubbah safarjalīyah". Taste Atlas. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
37. "Dunjevača izuzetne arome i ukusa" [Quince brandy of exceptional aroma and taste] (in Serbian). Poljoprivreda.info. 22 November 2003. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
38. "Kako da napravite kvalitetnu dunjevaču" [How to make a quality quince] (in Serbian). Agropress. 11 October 2015. Archived from the original on 10 November 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
39. Lawson, John (1709). A New Voyage to Carolina. Quoted in Leighton (1986), p. 243
40. Postman, Joseph (2009). "Cydonia oblonga: The unappreciated quince" (PDF). Arnoldia. 67 (1): 2–9. doi:10.5962/p.251043. JSTOR 42955445. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 February 2017.
41. Foster, Benjamin Oliver (1899). "Notes on the Symbolism of the Apple in Classical Antiquity". Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. 10: 39. doi:10.2307/310298. JSTOR 310298.
42. Wikisource: Lives by Plutarch, translated by John Dryden: Solon
43. ^ Young, Kate (12 November 2015). "Food in books: Quince, Meringue and Cream from The Owl and the Pussycat". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 November 2024.

External links

• Media related to Cydonia oblonga at Wikimedia Commons

• IUCN Red List least concern species
• Edible fruits
• Flora of Turkey
• Fruit trees
• Maleae
• Medicinal plants
• Plants used in bonsai
• Taxa named by Philip Miller