Quinces

Quince, the apple which Paris presented to Helen and maybe even the one which grew in the garden of Eden (although there is, it’s argued, a more convincing academic case to be made for the pomegranate here) is a ravishing mixture of One Thousand and One Nights exotic and Victorian kitchen homeliness. It looks like a mixture between apple and pear, but tastes like neither. And actually the taste is not the point: what this fruit is all about is heady, perfect fragrance. I have somethi