"Japanese Quince" Small Rose Quince

This was an experiment. I had never heard of rose quince or Japanese quince before, but I love jam made from regular quince. The large and incredibly hard fruits, when cooked into a firm jam, are some of the best things I know. So, I thought, why not try a different type of quince that can actually thrive in the climate of western Sweden?

The small rose quince is a hardy shrub with beautiful flowers that bloom in May. The fruit ripens in September to October and can be harvested when it changes from green to yellow. When fully ripe, the small rose quince has a lovely fragrance but remains firm. When you open the fruit, the seeds should be dark brown.

After the harvest was done, the next question arose - what do I do now? I found some questionable recipes on the internet from one or another Russian source. It seems that the Russians have been cultivating and using this fruit for a long time. The only thing that struck me was that the fruit was exceptionally hard, tasted sour, and had an incredible number of seed cores. Could this really taste good in the end?