In article ,
"Charlie Pridham" writes:
| "JennyC" wrote in message
| ...
| "H Ryder" wrote in message
| ...
|
| Am thinking of planting a cydonia (quince) in my north facing but large
| enough to get a few hours of sun each day garden (have been put off the
| Judas tree ) but have just read that teh seeds are poisonous - my
| intention was to use the fruit for jams etc. Is it just a case of coring
| them like apples? How poisonous are the seeds? (has anyone eaten one and
| survived ??)
|
| They are really difficult to cut up - hard as stone - but well worth the
| effort. they make wonderful jelly and I use them in Quince Crumble :~)
|
| and they will ripen in the UK but only rarely, mine has done so once in 23
| years! normally I put a few in the airing cupboard, I rather like them, but
| would grow it for the look of the tree and the wonderful smell in the late
| Autumn from the fallen fruit.

Well, I beg to disagree. I do agree that it is a race between them rotting
and ripening, but they do ripen most years - they don't SOFTEN, but that
isn't the same. I am going on the state of their seeds, incidentally, in
saying that.

And they AREN'T all that hard or acid; that is Chaenomeles (also edible).
At one of my prep schools, there were 4 children that ate the quinces raw;
3 were called Maclaren :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.