Quince

Cydonia oblonga

fruit

A large yellow, downy, very fragrant fruit of a small tree from the Caucasus and Iran, alone in its genus; hard and harsh raw, it is cooked into jelly, quince paste or baked. It provides pectins and tannins.

Origin

Caucasus and Iran

Season (United States)

October to December · grows in your region

Preparation

The seeds are not crunched: they carry amygdalin. Cooked whole in a little bag, they help the jelly set. Its skin is eaten, and that is where its polyphenols sit: worth keeping, then — but under running water, rubbing it, which is what takes off most of what settles there, organic or not. Its tannins hold back plant iron: better away from an iron-rich meal than during it.

Molecules

PectinsIn small amounts, not counted Insoluble fibersWhat slows things down Tannins (iron brake)

Did you know?

The word “marmalade” comes from the Portuguese marmelada, quince paste, from marmelo, “quince”; some ancients called it the “golden apple”.