The message
from "Mary Fisher" contains these words:

The quince used in Western cuisine is like a big yellow Williams pear,
quite hard, and sour until it is really ripe. Lovely smell.

How do you know it's sour?

Where I was at boarding school we had two quince trees. We used to eat
the things, raw, or roasted in the embers of a camp fire, like spuds in
their charcoal.

We started a little earlier in the season than I would advise nowadays.

You can't bite into it - or even hack it with a cleaver - until it's ripe.
And even then you need muscles like Desperate Dan. Or Popeye.

Ah, but we are the macho sex innit.

The characteristic feature is that it has a grey down on the skin and smells
sublime ...

IMO, superlime......

--
Rusty Hinge
horrid·squeak&zetnet·co·uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm