Quince (not to be confused with “quints” – a set of five children born at the same time) is an unusual shrub. It flowers prolifically. The fruit looks like small wrinkled up yellow apples.

There are several kinds of quince and I’m not sure which kind I have in my back yard. I thought there was only one kind of quince bush until I tried to find out more about it. It’s possible that mine is a flowering quince because the fruit is smaller than that of some other types.

Here is my quince bush in April, just beginning to get blossoms.

Now, in May, the flowers have opened up and the whole bush is loaded in lovely blossoms.

Last year in the fall I took some pictures of the quince fruit as it was still ripening on the shrub. The fruit was smaller than the size of a golf ball, which is why I wonder if the shrub is an ornamental variety. Pictures of quince I found in recipes online are a bit bigger.

Nevertheless, I made jam from this bitter fruit.  I strained the juice after cooking the quince and then added the sugar to make jam, so there were no seeds or peels in it. While you wouldn’t try to eat quince raw — too astringent — the jam was pretty good.

Do you know something about quince that you would like to share with us?