In the past I have picked quince off the ground, or gotten them when they came off easily by hand. Even that experience was limited. A neighbor asked me to harvest their quince tree for them. That's a lot of quince, so of course a staggered harvest (and sharing) is in order. I tried to find info on when quince should be harvested, and find online material that says when the quince is turning yellow and starting to develop aroma, that the quince need to be clipped off the tree, and that they will be better if given six to eight weeks to ripen off the tree than if ripened on the tree. Well, I don't know...if anybody has any experience please share.
I agree with the yellow and aroma part. Mine are krimskaya-Crimea from One Green World. They are good fresh.
CLipping early sounds like something that someone would do to try to make them better keepers.
John S
I have been harvesting my 'Pineapple' quince tree for 30 years now (Portland).
A whole-tree mass harvest will be a waste of time unless some full-sized yellow fruit has already fallen.
That indicates many ripe fruit on the tree.
If a lot are falling, get to it, as quince are easily bruised and quality of those lessens quickly.
Aroma is a good indicator.
I have never harvested before October. Then one must compromise between waiting for fuller ripeness and
fruit quality. Main problems are splitting and brown rot; these will increase during onset of autumn rains.
Most quince fruits, even ripe ones, cling stubbornly to the branch and need to be bent or twisted off by hand
to avoid branch damage.
There might be some additional ripening off-tree; my fruits, when sampled after 4-6 weeks of storage, do not show
any taste or texture advantage over recently-harvested fruit. The longer you store the fruit, the more moisture
content it will lose. Some of my fruit never turns yellow (oddly, on the same branches every year). These green fruits
have the same flavor and texture as the yellow ones.
Larry, interesting about the ones that stay green are on the same branches. I wonder if it is sun exposure, or a but sport mutation perhaps?
Thanks everybody.
Larry, that was very useful. Thanks for sharing your experience.
This tree has not produced very aromatic fruit in the past, making it a bit harder to gauge. The color observations are helpful. I did clip off a dozen on Friday, will probably repeat that this coming Friday. I think overall ripening happens sooner in Corvallis than Portland, and will try to complete this harvest the end of October.
I always try to hold out until 10 October, and pick everything at once.
Some years the weather does not hold and I pick beginning of October.
Quince stores well outside in a dry location. If placed in multiple layers,
there will be little bruise spots where the fruits touch, not a problem for usage.
The green-fruit branches were not always the case, but occurred after much
top-pruning of the tree to limit height. The fruits on that newer wood stay green.
That is the only difference I can think of, as fruit on the lower north side of the dense tree turns yellow reliably.
The upper fruits are all sun-exposed and are also significantly larger.
What I have observed from my Aromatnya (with a branch of Kugonskaya) over years is consistent with what Larry_G wrote. I usually pick the fruits when they turn yellow and aromatic, and the fine velvety hair became easily rubbed off. Harvested fruits, staying at room temperature in the kitchen, easily rot and become moldy. So far my favorite method of cooking quince is steaming, I simply steam a few, with intact skin but the fine hair rubbed off. The daily harvest lasts as long as I have enough mason jars & space in the freezer. (I mainly use the steamed quinces for smoothie and fruit leather.)
You guys got me intrigued with your theory. So I decided to try it with Crimea/Krimskaya. Today, I tried two quinces. One was mostly green, and one was mostly yellow. THey both fell naturally from the tree. The green one was quite astringent and lacked sweetness and aroma. It tasted like a fruit that I would not choose to grow.
Then I tasted the mostly yellow one. It had a nice aroma. It was sweet and flavorful. Just the flavor I expect with Crimea, although I haven't started picking yet.
In an n of one, my opinion is that with the Crimea variety, yellow is much better than green. I will stay with only harvesting the yellow ones. They also seem to come off the tree more easily.
JohN S
PDX OR
John, I wonder how the yellow and green would compare with one another when cooked a long time with some sugar. A lot of chemical processes unfold from that.
Interesting idea. I don't cook mine, so that could be a factor. When you cook foods, you usually decrease the amount of antioxidants and vitamin C.
I also hold the surprising belief that table sugar isn't healthy for us, so I prefer not to add it to my diet.
That could be the difference. Some people don't cook aromatnaya, which ET grows.
John S
PDX OR
Years ago at an HOS event met Barbara Ghazarian, who was selling her book Simply Quince. There are several good recipes in that book, that make for most of how quince is used in this house. Mashed Yams and Quince with Ginger and Cardamom, Lamb and Quince Tagine, Cumin-Glazed Carrots and Quince, Chicken and Quince Stew are favorites. I also make a Turkish Lamb and Quince Stew. We do not use sugar in cooking. Never encountered a quince considered tasty raw, just read about them.
I add it to salads and casseroles for about the next month and a half, usually in slices. Then I chop up the rest and freeze it. I also saw Barbara Ghazarian and she mentioned that quince is the fruit that is highest in pectin, so it is anti-inflammatory. Once frozen, it is easy to chop it up and blend it into some of my medicinal concoctions. It adds taste too.
John S
PDX OR
I have to take out Maryannes Cooks Jumbo quince. She is favoring small bush habit figs she's propagated for the location. Raised soil in doubled up railroad ties, (not recommended.) I've been frustrated when confronted with sweeping mandated reductions to my watched pruning patterns, looking for resultant supportive growth structure anyway, so I'm ok without the fight, although I have been the recipient of what fruit was to be had.
The individual fruits are big. Needs to be pruned to support the holdfast on the branch. Should limit fruiting sites to encourage shorter thicker scaffold. One of the larger, in my photo archives is on a scale reading 2 pounds 7ounces.
I have just a few fruit left on the tree to ripen a bit more. This year is the last harvest. If anyone has serious interest for scion wood, I would hold off on taking her out till after leaf drop and dormancy. Otherwise, I may harvest the firewood sooner and allow to get to the fig planting before it turns cold to get established earlier.
I put them into a bean soup today, which is a typical use for me. I cut many slices and added them to the soup along with green leafies, plain yogurt and fresh salsa. The quince slices have a nice slight crunch, along with some sweetness and some tart flavors. It just makes the bean soup so much more interesting. It also adds nutrition.
John S
PDX OR