Quince
The Quince, Cydonia oblonga is a small fruit-bearing tree in the Rose family, native to Armenia and western Asia. It is in bloom from April through June and ripens in September. In warm climates, it can be grown as a hedge or small tree with a dense crown with dark green oval leaves long and broad, with a serrated margin.
The trees are often grown for their attractive pink or white blossoms and distinct fruit. The fruit is not related to the apple but it does resemble a pear or an elongated apple, both in shape and taste. The fruit has a higher pectin content than apples and a very high vitamin C content. This fruit is easy to preserve, making it a popular snack during the winter months, as well as lending itself to many culinary uses. Quince jelly is also widely used as an ingredient in pâtés and sausage or duck liver mousse, complementing the taste of the slightly gamey meat.
Quince is one of the oldest cultivated fruit trees in temperate regions, grown mainly for its edible fruit. It was known to the Greeks as pyron and to the Romans as mala, but despite this, it appears that it was not widely cultivated in Europe until the end of antiquity when Syrian cultivars were introduced along with quinces preserved in honey. They were well known to gardeners by the 17th century, when John Parkinson recorded twenty-seven varieties under the heading "Paradies-appel" (paradise apple) and described them as "hath a goodly smell in his uncut hoofd , almost like Muske, but in his full ripeness he tasteth much like a Quince".
The Japanese quince, Chaenomeles speciosa, is the only other species in genus Cydonia and can be found natively from western China to Korea. It is not often seen cultivated, though it does fruit fairly reliably even if not heavily pruned.
The quince tree is one of the smallest trees in cultivation, usually growing no more than 12-15 feet tall with a width of about 9 feet, though specimens exceeding 20 feet have been reported. It makes an attractive ornamental due to its pink blossoms and yellow-variegated leaves appearing before the leaves of most other fruit trees. It is also noted for attracting wildlife, and fruits in autumn.
One of the seven, fast-growing major economies in the world today is Turkey. It ranks third with regard to total crop production around the world. The top three leading countries are in Asia. Turkey is at the top followed by China and Uzbekistan in third place. Morocco, Iran, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Spain, Serbia, and Algeria are the other countries in the top ten in terms of crop production.