I really like quince. If I had to choose between quince and pear I’d choose quince. I never eat them raw.
When cooked they transform, the flesh becomes soft, the color turns rosy red (after a long, slow time) and the astringency disappears.
I like to bake them like a baked apple with lots of vanilla sugar and eat with a scoop of ice cream. I like to make a compote for waffles and such. I also like the juice for a dry (astringent) soda, or just sauce it like apple sauce (although I find fruit sauces a bit boring).
Quince paste is also delicious, but its just too much sugar to be worth it for me most of the time.
Oh, and by the way, I’ve grafted quince onto my sister’s European pear of unknown variety. It grew well and produced fruit for 2 years. The tree never gets pruned and I think the Hosui on the same tree is shading it. I think the quince branch is still alive, but I haven’t seen fruit on it the last couple of years.
The tree gets less that good care.