All Quinces, great and small

This is the time of year when quince are at their finest, be they commercially-grown, like the "Pineapple Quince" in the middle or wild, like the smaller ones.

My neighbor has a little quince bush that's been fruiting for decades. You can smell its sweet blossoms in the spring from 20 feet away, but the scent of the blossoms pale in comparison to the way the diminutive golden quince fruits perfume the chilly air in the months of October and November.

When autumn rolls around I start thinking about making things with apples, pears and quince. The first two are a joy to cook and preserve, and are, at least in the Pacific Northwest, easy to find.

The quince? That's another matter. Not nearly as simple to work with and not nearly as easy to find but definitely worth your time and trouble.

Quince can be expensive if you purchase them in a grocery store...

...but luckily I've been able to buy a 30 lb case of Pineapple Quince every year from a friend who is well-connected to a local produce wholesaler.

An entire case is definitely enough to keep me busy. No wonder I haven't had time to blog for a few days.

While you're waiting to see what I come up with, please check out last year's Quince Paste and also my post pointing out the joys of preserving quince.

I plan to make sure I set aside plenty of Quince so I can make Sugared Fruit again too. While not edible, Sugared Fruit is a real treat for the eyes when I use it to decorate my house for the holidays.

Please stay tuned for my next project, Quincemeat Mincemeat!

In the meantime, ShuMai is keeping a close eye on the quince...too bad they taste so terrible raw. She learned that the hard way.