My husband is a chef, and they just ordered some quince (I believe Van Deman variety). Sliced very thin, it was truly a wonderful fruit. Reminded me of an aromatically sweet, light limoncello. They baked them into individual tartlets, and sold out of all of it.
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Yes, there are some quince varieties that are sweeter too. You can make a very good quince compote too. 
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Hey - Iâm so late to this threadâŚ
We planted 2 x Aromatnaya from an Austrian nursery in the fall of 2014. They were quite branchy and tall (6 ft +) but with a rather small root ball. So i hardened my heart and pruned them brutally to just plain sticks 4 ft tall. They responded well and started developing a good shape again.
The nursery had this to say about Aromatnaya:
- the fruits are very globular, not square or elongated
- almost no scent when picking
- very yellow flesh, hardly any browning
- no hard âgrittyâ bits in the flesh like quinces usually tend to have
- taste lightly orange-y
- self-pollinating
- can be eaten fresh if one is so inclined
After hard frosts in the past 2 years, this year brought a good full harvest to the point that some of the young branches broke when I was not there on time to lighten their load.
This is the verdict:
- yes, the fruits are very round
- yes, the scent is very light
- the flesh is a pale yellow and when exposed to the air, it does go brown somewhat but not to a high degree
- yes, the flesh is not gritty at all
- yes, the taste has a light note of orange, or maybe lemon would be a more appropriate description
- yes, they can definitely be eaten raw, for example sliced like a very crisp apple, it also cooks up well as an addition to apple sauce / jam
- I canât speak about self-pollination since we have 2 of A. + 1 of Vranja and the neighbor has a large Bereczky
I had the idea that a stronger taste might be brought out by drying the sliced fruits - but havenât tried it yet.
The following things came as a surprise:
- somehow this year was crappy for quinces as both our Vranja and the neighborâs Bereczky had problems fully developing shape, mass and flavor (the first half of the year was unusually wet and from August onwards there is basically a drought which is still ongoing)
- despite that, the Aromatnayas bore very heavily and the fruit was in good condition, apart from the coddling moth and hail consequences
- however, they do seem to be VERY late-ripening - I started picking at the end of September; it is now the end of October and the overwhelming majority of the fruits picked so far took some persuasion to get off the branch, only a few were detached easily and the skin color is moving from green to yellow at a very leisurely pace
Oh, and - it is my understanding that Aromatnaya and Krymsk are the same.
I hope these observations can maybe be helpful for others. Cheers!
PS. Many thanks to Richard for the T-shirt lead.
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Aromatnaya and Krimskaya are not the same. Krimskaya is the RUssian name for both Crimea from One Green World and Kuganskaya. In my opinion, these are the two quinces that are best for eating fresh. Most quinces arenât good for eating fresh. Kaunching would be next. Aromatnaya is tolerable fresh, in my opinion, but I donât think itâs worth trying to grow to eat fresh.
John S
PDX OR
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John, the impression Iâve gotten is that in our cooler fall, the fresh eating quince may be quite different than in say, California. I think was said to be true for Karpâs Sweet which I think from memory is also Majes Valley, or somesuch.
Just saying, results may be regional.
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Esp. southern California.
You make a good point, Murky. I have never gardened in another region, so all I can offer is my experience. If I hear some clear results that affect other regions, I can forward the information. Others on this list, and other authors have spoken of clear regional effects that are different. If so, let us know. Share the knowledge!
John S
PDX OR
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I will be planting out my nursery row of fruiting Quince next spring, room for six more or soâŚ
Does anyone use flowering quince (chaenomeles sp) fruit similarly? I found an extremely productive bush at a friends house, the fruit falls off rock hard, but nicely colored (compared to others Iâve seen)with good aroma. Thinking about taking some suckered from that plantâŚ
Iâm confused⌠are Krimskaya, Crimea, and Kuganskaya the same cultivar? Which two are you saying are best for fresh eating? Thanks
https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?id=1556083
Apparently Karpâs Sweet at the germplasm repository is virus infected. My graft was never happy, nor were the pears I grafted to it. Perhaps that had something to do with it.
Itâs described as âjuicy and non-astringent and can be eaten freshâ, but when David Karp spoke at our Home Orchard Society fruit show years ago, I recall him saying that grown in Oregon it was reported to not be the same.
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The USDA Germplasm has names, and One Green World has their names. To make it even more confusing, One Green World donated some to USDA.
From Russia to the USDA repository: Krimskaya (They call both below âKrimskayaâ)
From One Green World: Kuganskaya, and Crimea.
I have grown both Kuganskaya and Crimea. My family says, and I agree that Kuganskaya tastes a little bit better. They are VERY similar. So far, Kuganskaya has avoided some of the disease that Crimea gets (mostly rust), but over time, Kuganskaya may also develop more disease.
Thatâs all I know so far from my yard in Portland, OR.
John S
PDX OR
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I tried to grow Karpâs sweet and it got disease and failed. After reading something similar, Murky, I opted for other varieties.
John S
PDX OR
My Kuganskaya developed brown quarter size spots on all of the leaves shortly after being dug in. The maple tree it sits fairly close to has the same thing on it. Are they related and does anyone know what it is and if I should be worried? The leaves stayed on the plant and didnât get crispy or anything, just brown patches here and there.
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I just read through this entire thread. I have a question.
Three years ago I planted an Aromatnaya tree from Raintree. Two years ago it had a mishap with a riding mower, that resulted in more extensive pruning than I usually do for my fruit trees. As in, it became a 4 inch tall fruit tree.
I never got around to digging it up, and today I inspected what grew. It had about a half dozen stems, growing 4 feet tall. Interesting to me, our local large herbivores (Bambi and company) barely touched this tree. Which is surprising.
So I cleaned it up, saved the 4 best spaced / most vigorous trunks, and mulched it.
So hereâs my question. Most likely, I think this tree is rootstock. I canât find a graft union. Would it be better to -
Make a multigraft with 4 varieties, assuming I can find scion.
Make a one-trunk tree, discarding the other 3 stems?
Some other option?
Iâm leaning toward the multigraft, if I can find scion. Burnt ridge sells Aromatnaya scion and Smyrna but from this thread, these might not be the best choices.
I grew up with Smyrna in the yard (zone 9) and also grew it at a property in the past decade. People enjoy it with other foods: sliced thinly in salad, or in a fruit salad, on vanilla ice cream, baked on pizza or flat-bread, etc. I also enjoy it straight from the tree â but never have encountered anyone else who does.
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Bear with me-
You can get Crimea and Kuganskaya from USDA Germplasm repository in Corvallis-but you must act before Dec. 1, I think, youâve got 7 days.
John S
PDX OR
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Thanks John!
I wasnt checking my messages and missed this. I hope to check HOS Propagation fair this next time. Maybe there will be some there!
Fred Meyer had some Quinces. I bought a few, cooked with some apples. I could not detect much difference. Maybe they were not ripe. They did not list the variety. They looked similar to photos of Pineapple.
Iâd go for the multi graft for sure. And as usual Englandâs has pretty much whatever youâre looking for in the scion department. _
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Kuganskayaâs top died- winter damage. It looks somewhat silly and lopsided now. I appreciate itâs tenacity though. It is about to bloom!
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This has been a big year for my quince project, my young grafted trees moved out of the nursery and into their permanent spots in my new quince trial block. I have around 10 varieties btwern 3-4 years old.
i got to meet a fellow quince enthusiast, Nan, of Vermont Quince and #growquince, she has a company which specializes in all manner of value added quince products and who is trying to promote the crop here in the northeast.
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