To many, the quince is less familiar than apples, pears, oranges or bananas. They are bright golden-yellow, large in size, hard inside since not very juicy. Even when ripe, they remain hard. Large indeed, a single quince can weigh a kilogram, about two pounds.
The word quince derives, through the French coing, from the Latin malum cydonium, i.e., apple of Cydonia — where Cydonia refers to the thus named city (present-day Chania) in Crete, on the northwestern coast.
The French Renaissance writer François Rabelais recommended thus their health benefits: “Eat some of this quince paste: these fruits close the ventricle orifice properly, thanks to whatever happy astringent properties they possess, and help with the first digestion.” Tiers Livre, chapter 32. Quince fruits have indeed antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anti-ulcerative, and anticancer activities.
Quinces originated in the region by trans-Caucasia and northern Persia. To be more precise, the region between Dagestan to Talysh in trans-Caucasia and north of Iran is believed to have been the locus of quince origin. Babylonians and the Greeks cultivated these trees, which spread all over Asia Minor and Caucasus and reached the Mediterranean countries, including Italy.
The French sweet dessert pâte de coings is rendered in English as quince cheese. In Spanish-speaking Latin Americz, it is known as dulce (or machacado) de membrillo. In Portuguese, whether in Portugal or Brazil, it is known as marmelada, from the Portuguese name of the fruit, marmelo — from which derives the English name marmelade, referring to orange jam. In Hungarian, which was spoken in my family when I was a child, it is birsalmasajt.
Indeed, when I was a child — and this was in provincial France, in the city of Grenoble — our small garden boasted a quince tree facing the house. Hence, my childhood was graced by gifts of quince cheese; to me they were rare and precious. My maternal grandmother would make them; Since she lived in faraway Budapest, these were unfrequent, whether they came in the
mail or whether she made them during one of her by necessity unfrequent visits.
When a teenager, we lived in Rio de Janeiro. There, I feasted on the Brazilian counterpart to quince cheese: it is made from guava fruit and is known accordingly as goiabada.
To prepare quince cheese, first boil cut pieces of the fruit into a mashed state; following which cooking with 3 kg of sugar / 2 kg of fruit for 15 mn or so provides the delicacy.