Preserved Quinces and Quince Wine

Cydonia Oblonga - the Quince

The autumn is when the English apple and pear season really gets in its stride. What a delight that the D’Arcy Spice is soon to be back in season, the Ribston Pippin on the shelves, a Doyenné du Comice pear slowly ripening in the fruit bowl. A poor relation to these well-known orchard fruits is the quince. Such a jolly, good-looking fruit, glowing all gold and yellow among the foliage but as hard as iron! Archive assistant Neil Wiffen has been experimenting with some historic recipes from our collection.

Preserved Quinces Recipe - Transcription

Quince Wine Recipe - Transcription

The quince is not native to Britain, it probably originated far to the east, in Turkestan and Transcaucasia. It was known on Crete at an early stage, and it was from here that it derives its name, Cydonia, from the city of Cydonea, now known as Canea. It appears that it was not introduced into Britian until after the Norman Conquest, and it is recorded that Edward I had some in 1275. (F.A. Roach, Cultivated Fruits of Britain: Their Origin and History (1985), pp.221-223).

Possibly the quince was generally a fruit of the gentry and aristocracy as being hard and gritty it must be cooked, often with wine, sugar and honey. Quince jelly and quince cheese perhaps have their origins here. Philip Miller, in The Gardener's Dictionary (1731), goes as far as to say that ‘the fruit is sour and astringent’ (ERO, D/DU 588/1). The recipe ‘To p[re]serve Quinces’ (ERO, D/DBy Z1) uses a lot of sugar along with rose water and cinnamon – all expensive ingredients in early modern England.

It can also be used in savoury dishes, so perhaps this is where it would have found a role in most households. However, in the first half of the eighteenth century, someone decided to note down a recipe for quince wine (ERO, D/DRe Z5, c.1725), another way to make use of them, although with you still needed ‘3 pound of sugar’ to ‘every gallon of licker’.

It is generally a very good ‘keeper’; it would have found a welcome shelf in the fruit store to help provide a supply over winter in an age before refrigeration and imports from around the globe. Mixed in with apples, it makes a wonderful crumble, bringing a lovely, distinctive taste and colour. I can imagine that it was ‘valued’, as an addition to the diet, but possibly not loved.

 The quince has left little in the way of records, the odd place-name, such as Quince Hall in Blackmore, and Quince Tree Farm in South Ockendon - perhaps both named after a distinctive and unusual quince tree in their gardens? The quince as a landscape feature.

If you want to find out more about apple days and all things celebrated around orchard fruits see: https://www.commonground.org.uk/apple-day/

If you want to see how the ERO got on ‘p[re]serve[ing] Quinces’ or how the c.1725 quince wine recipe came out then take a look at our video. You can find links to download a transcription of the recipes below.

If you would like to see the quince recipe in D/DBy Z1, it will be on display in the ERO Searchroom until the end of November.

Take a trip to your local farm shop to hunt out a quince – let’s put it back on the menu!