Pork, Lamb, or Veal Stew with Quinces

We know that the ancient Greeks ate quinces—Athenaeus mentions them in his descriptions of sumptuous dinners. Although cooking pork, lamb, or veal with quinces is not very common today, Greeks use the word kidonati (“like quinces”) to describe potatoes quartered lengthwise. So we can assume that quinces were cut lengthwise and were regularly added to stews before potatoes were introduced to Greece around 1830.

Today, ripe quinces are harvested in the fall to make spoon sweets