I am growing two from seed, one I will use to graft loquat as an experiment in z7a
Obviously, we have very different climates. Out here, it seems to me that the Luther Burbank selection āPineappleā is the most disease free.
John S
PDX OR
It also seems to hold fruit better for me than the one you gave me. They both fruited well last year, but this year I think the ones that are sizing up are the Pineapple I got from Larry.
The one I gave you was a Crimea, my favorite, with Kuganskaya. I prefer to eat it raw. Pineapple needs to be cooked.
John S
PDX OR
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I hope Iāve properly thanked you for giving me those two trees. I like the fruit and very happy to have the trees. I have a third that Iāve propagated from cuttings stabbed into the ground next to it.
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No problem. That is a great advantage of this tree.
JOhn S
PDX OR
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I picked up 6 quince at Whole Foods today. Want to try baking/roasting them for dessert. Any favored recipes?
I honestly canāt beat just slow roasting them whole and then eating them as is (once theyāve roasted long enough to get wrinkly). If you want to make it fancy, serve with a slice of cheese!
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What temperature and for how long? A lot of different recipes have very different guides.
There are a lot of variables which will work. No need to be super precise. Personally, I generally set the oven anywhere from 300-350Ā°F and bake for two or three hours. The quince will generally be soft after the first hour, but leaving it an additional hour (or an additional two at the lower end of the temperature range) will further improve the flavor as moisture is lost and sugars are concentrated. Sometimes if I want to just let it sit in the oven longer Iāll turn it down to 275Ā°F or 250Ā°F. Generally you just want to keep the temperature low enough that it wonāt get scorched with the long cook time. Iām sure you could do a higher temperature for a shorter time, but I like how evenly they cook at the lower temperatures. Kind of like slow roasting a marshmallow until itās gooey all the way down to the center instead of just sticking it in the fire and burning the outside while the core remains unmelted.
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Iām in Zone 4b Minneapolis (provisionally given 5a rating). Iām thinking of Aromatnaya and Crimea/Krymskaya varieties to try out. The U of Wisconsin Uncommon Fruit Carandale Farm website said Aromatnaya performed well in zone 4. I decided against Van Deman because this area is absolutely overrun with a juniper that goes by the name Eastern Red Cedar. [The Cedar-Apple rust aka Juniper-Quince affects my other plants like Saskatoon Serviceberry.]
Any recent reviews in the cold climates for performance, raw edibility, cooked edibility, disease survival?
I like to cut before roasting and add some water and sugar. Maybe donāt need the water if its whole, but I like the sugar to cook with it and it makes a syrup.
Delicious with vanilla icecream. Like more flavorful baked apple with rosy syrup.
Aromatnaya has performed well for me in z4b Maine. It ripens before hard frost and has been disease free. The tree is medium vigor compared to others I grow
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This is a fantastic idea! I got about 20 quince this year; it was the first harvest from my little three year old tree. Iād never tasted quince before, except for some store-bought membrillo, which was so sweet that I was left wondering what quince even tasted like.
I ended up boiling them, letting them cool and then canning them with their skins. Iām not sure yet if I like it or not! The flavor reminds me of rhubarb with that floral overtone. Anyway, I have a feeling that roasting would intensify the sugars and make the flavor more appealing. Thanks.
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Just occurred to me that due to all the old apple trees around, everyone has apple maggots unless they spray. Would those spread to Quince? Would the cooking varieties be less favored by apple maggots?
In zone 4b (very cold).
So far Iāve never seen an apple maggot in a quince, but Iāve read that coddling moths are sometimes attracted to them (which would be limited to the core and so the fruit would still be useable). Fortunately Iāve not seen any coddling moth damage to them either though.
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Here in NW Oregon, I have had the walnut husk fly in quince for the past 20 years.
Very little online about this, but my pest fly is definitely walnut husk and not apple maggot.
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Does it render the fruit unusable or is it just a minor nuisance?
Minor nuisance. When quartering the fruit, sometimes the frass is abundant enough to require rinsing. The larva itself makes a beeline for the core, affecting less than 1% of the whole fruit.
The live maggots are usually long gone prior to full ripeness and harvest.
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I agree with LarryGene. The quince is dense enough that itās not really great habitat for the codling moth. Some will go in there, but the fruit is still good. They really greatly prefer your apples.
John S
PDX OR
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