Quince

The beautiful quince tree, its blossom a mainstay of Oriental art, bears fruit of several forms. It may be the color and size of a Comice pear, or golden and shaped more like a Delicious apple. The skin may be covered with a woolly down, or it may be smooth. You can pluck it in Greece or the United States, Argentina or New Zealand, France or Iran (its probable birthplace— although the name Cydonia derives from an area of Crete) and a host of other countries. The quince’s only constant factor is its penetrating perfume, musky-wild as a tropical fruit, reminiscent of pineapple, guava, Bartlett pear, and apple—depending on the variety you have in hand.