Quince primer

Don’t know much about this fruit? It’s laden with history and has a
unique spot in local ag.

By Joan Obra / The Fresno Bee

(Updated Wednesday, September 21, 2005, 9:45 AM)

Many local folks don’t recognize the quince, a hard and often tart
fruit that looks like a funny-shaped apple.

But a handful of growers know it well. Most of the quince’s commercial
production in the United States rests on a few hundred acres in Fresno
and Tulare counties. Harvest begins around Labor Day and typically
ends in mid-November, says John Kaprielian, a Reedley farmer who tends
three varieties of this fruit: pineapple quince, Smyrna quince and
golden quince.

It’s a fruit that has fascinated local growers for more than a
century. George C. Roeding, the horticulturist and parks commissioner
who lent his name to Roeding Park, is credited with importing the
Smyrna quince from Turkey in the late 1800s.

Despite the strong Valley connection to the fruit, shoppers may have a
hard time finding fresh quince in supermarkets and farmers
markets. Whole Foods in Fig Garden Village already is selling it, and
it could appear on more market shelves as the harvest season
progresses. But much of the quince grown here heads to Los Angeles,
where ethnic groups such as Hispanics and Armenians buy the fruit. Or
it’s sent to the Middle East, where it’s widely eaten.

Quince still is popular among “all the cultures that still place a
high value on food,” says Brian Keavy, who markets quince for
Ballantine Produce in Reedley. “Our culture races toward
convenience. One of our greatest challenges is to get people to slow
down.”

Quince was the original fruit used in marmalades. “The Portuguese word
for quince is marmelo, and the quince jam in Portugal was called
marmalada,” states the 1987-88 catalog of the Southmeadow Fruit
Gardens, a specialty fruit-tree nursery in Baroda, Mich.

In Armenia, cooks turn the quince into preserves, jellies and
juice. In Iran, quince often is paired with meats such as lamb. And in
Spain and Latin America, a quince paste called dulce de membrillo
often is eaten with various cheeses, including the Spanish manchego
and tetilla, or the Mexican cotija.

In the Valley, quince paste is easier than the fresh fruit to find in
stores. The El Mexicano brand is sold at some stores that cater to
Hispanics. At La Paella, a Spanish restaurant at Champlain Drive and
Perrin Avenue, diners can order a dessert of Spanish dulce de
membrillo with tetilla cheese and a glass of port or sherry.

“People had the [quince] trees at home,” says Frank Vidal, the owner
of La Paella and a native of the Spainish province of Galicia. “We
used to make the membrillo at home.”

Making the paste was a lengthy process, he adds.

Quince is widely perceived as a difficult fruit. Its tart, chewy
texture means it’s rarely eaten raw. And cooking it requires
preparation. The skin has a light fuzz that must be removed. Its core
is particularly hard to cut. Cooking turns its pale flesh into a
beautiful red, ruby color ‘ but it typically takes a couple of hours
of cooking for this transformation.

Still, cooking with quince isn’t rocket science.

“Everyone says quince is hard to work with,” says Barbara Ghazarian, a
Monterey author whose cookbook, “Simply Armenian: Naturally Healthy
Ethnic Cooking Made Easy,” contains a chapter about quince. “But if
you’re a home cook who’s willing to cook with apples, then you’re a
home cook who’s willing to work with quince.”

Commercial quince already is defuzzed, she points out. And if you
happen to get the fruit from a backyard tree, rubbing it with a dish
towel should take care of the pesky fuzz.

Most of the time, you can use a knife to cut through the quince. If it
proves too hard, a food processor easily will slice it.

Like apples, the quince browns quickly, so plunge the slices into a
bowl of water with a little lemon juice.

If you’re looking for a quick dish, simply cook the fruit in cobblers
or as you would an apple pie. The quince may not turn that deep red
color, but it’ll still taste good.

If, however, you’re looking for the ruby hue, let the fruit simmer for
a couple of hours to make preserves, Ghazarian says.

The color and cooking time depend on the variety. The Smyrna won’t
start to jell until it turns a deep red, she says. But the golden
quince will start to set up once the flesh has turned a golden color.

You can identify the Smyrna by its irregular shape. The smoother
golden quince, by contrast, “is just a really buff fruit. Huge and
buff,” Ghazarian says. “If the fruit was a guy, it would be Matt
Damon, and I would marry it.”

For recipes such as stuffed quinces, the Smyrna would be a good
choice.

“The Smyrna really holds its shape,” Kaprielian says. “It won’t get
mushy or fall apart.”

Kaprielian also offers a tip for ripening the quince: Simply let it
sit at room temperature until it turns yellow and gives off an
aromatic scent, a process that can take several weeks.

“A lot of times, a quince will get better after harvest,” Kaprielian
says. “It keeps ripening.”

Once it is ripe, store it in a plastic container with a damp paper
towel. Cover the container, but leave the lid slightly ajar. Kept
this way, it will stay fresh for a couple of months in the
refrigerator.

Kaprielian and Ghazarian, who are both Armenian, have ancestral ties
to the quince. This ancient fruit was born in the Caucasus ‘ the
mountainous region between the Black and Caspian seas that now
includes Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The quince has biblical, mythical and historical significance. It is
said to be the apple that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. The
Babylonians cultivated it. The Persians took it south, and the Greeks
took it to the east.

It is the fruit that started the Trojan War, the conflict launched by
a rivalry between three goddesses. Each hoped to win a quince destined
for the fairest one. Their judge: Paris, the prince of Troy.

Aphrodite, the goddess of love, made Paris an irresistible offer. If
he awarded her the quince, she would have the most beautiful woman in
the world fall in love with him. Aphrodite won the fruit, and Paris
won the heart of Helen, who already was married to the king of Sparta.

Helen left her husband for Paris, and her husband waged the Trojan War
to bring her back.

Other peoples, such as the Romans, traveled with the quince,
introducing it to areas such as the British Isles.

And when early European settlers came to America, they carried the
quince, Ghazarian says. The first quince tree she tended likely was
planted by settlers in Whitinsville, Mass.

“My family history with the fruit goes back to when my aunt and her
family purchased a home with a fruit-bearing quince tree in the yard,”
Ghazarian writes in “Simply Armenian.” “But it was my grandmother who
cared for the trees. She watched the fruit for signs of ripening
during the final days of September and labored in the kitchen for days
afterwards, making her royal red quince preserves and jelly.”

Ghazarian has noticed rising interest in the fruit, which has prompted
her to collect more recipes and historical information for a cookbook
devoted to quince.

“Quince is the up-and- coming thing,” she says. The reporter can be
reached at jobra@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6365.