Quince season
In well-behaved orchards this is an annual delight.
Not here. Our inherited on a steep slope quince trees only put in the effort every two years.
![](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IMG_1436.jpg)
And every time I promise myself to invest in proper quince breeds which can be reliable croppers every autumn.
Oh, and I’d plant them on the flat. Or a gentle slope in the orchard below the lawn. There is even a space in the orchard reserved for this very idea.
(I can’t nip out and photograph as it’s pitch dark pre-dawn. And raining.)
Instead these beauties cover the hilariously steep slope above the Dry Garden east of the farmhouses.
![](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IMG_1437-e1571373645976.jpg)
They self seed-like (sucker? I must do my quince research) like mad. And actually fruit.
So from the original ones planted by my predecessors I know have a forested slope of the beasts. And that means they are almost inaccessible. I have to wait for them to drop and roll before I can pick most of the crop.
Thank goodness they are so prolific I can nab them from the dirt track above the slope. Low hanging fruit.
![](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IMG_1455-e1571374074877-768x1024.jpg)
But have you spotted the spots?
Oh yes. That wretched biblical hail storm back when the fruit were forming has left a mark. A thousand marks.
The poor fruit are pocked. And the drought has given them the desiccated small sized mien of suffering.
Still. One picks. One poaches.
![](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IMG_1468-e1571375405755.jpg)
And if you turn them round you can actually pretend they are lovely fruit.
![](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IMG_1469.jpg)
Pan back and the full horror of the work ahead is revealed. Tedious evenings with the veggie peeler. And the cleaver.
![](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IMG_1470-e1571375428168.jpg)
Still, with the drought broken and rain and rain and rain in the forecast, what else are you going to do with your time but poach and munch?
![](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IMG_1461.jpg)
18th October 2019 @ 6:50 pm
I don’t know that I’ve ever tasted a quince. Or even quince paste, which is the closest I could probably get to a quince in my neck of the woods. I am Magine the piece to something a person could have with a nice soft ripened cheese?
18th October 2019 @ 6:51 pm
Stupid auto correct.
What I actually asked was, “I imagine quince paste to be something a person might have with some soft ripened cheese?”
19th October 2019 @ 5:24 am
It’s a delicious experience. Imagine a firm poached apple but one with a bit more gritty texture. And the taste is so complex and perfumed. I eat it with Greek yoghurt on my muesli! It would be divine with vanilla ice cream. Something lacking in my life!