Read here about Japanese Quince, Chaenomeles japonica, its medicinal and other properties.
Despite its modern botanical and common names Japanese Quince is, according to some sources, actually native to China, Tibet and Burma, and was introduced into Japan in the 16th century, and then to Europe in the 18th. Other sources suggest that there are three separate but closely related species, one Chinese, one Tibetan and one Japanese…! Whatever the truth of their origin, they are all part of the huge Rosaceae family of plants, which encompasses nearly 5000 known species of herbs, shrubs and trees. The family includes many familiar fruits such as apples, pears, cherries, apricots, plums and – perhaps more surprisingly – blackberries and raspberries.
Another relative is the Common Quince (Cydonia oblonga), but Japanese quince is very different in appearance, being a low, spreading shrub, rather than a tree. [Look here for more about Common Quince]
Left to its own devices, Japanese quince forms a spreading, tangled, thorny shrub that creates a virtually impenetrable hedge, providing excellent protection for small nesting birds, and attracting numerous invertebrates to the pollen and nectar on offer. Bees find it particularly attractive, and they pollinate its hermaphrodite flowers. The cup-shaped, five-petalled blooms are followed in autumn by fragrant, apple-like fruits. These are edible but, being almost impossible to cut or bite open, usually have to be cooked first.
With several cultivars available, some with different coloured flowers and fruit, Japanese quince is usually seen as purely ornamental (though usefully hardy), and the fruits often considered worthless – but this is to misunderstand and overlook its many qualities, described below.
Medicinal Uses
The quince fruit (of both Japanese and Common varieties) has three traditional medicinal properties: as an anti-inflammatory; for respiratory relief; and as a general health-giving tonic.
It is helpful in easing joint and muscle pain; in relieving nausea and stomach cramps; in treating coughs and colds. The Japanese make a cough medicine using quince juice and root ginger, blended into a paste and sweetened with sugar.
Other Uses (again, relevant to Common and Japanese Quince)
Culinary
Sometimes very ripe fruit is soft enough to squeeze, but fruit kept in the fridge will be more likely to soften, so the juice can be used as an alternative to lemon juice: it is reported to contain more vitamin C than lemon.
Quince fruit is also high in pectin, and thus makes a good jam, which has been a traditional way to preserve it since the Middle Ages when our ancestors use similar recipes for Medlar, a closely related and largely forgotten fruit. The Japanese make a fruit tea from quince, and cook it in honey to make a good syrup. They also mix quince with sugar and alcohol to make a liqueur.
Aromatic
The fruit is very fragrant, and the scent lasts long enough for a bowl of the fruit left out in the home to act as a pleasant room freshener. You could even keep one in the car…
Myth and Magic
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find any anecdotes or adages for this quince – the legends all seem to relate to the fruit of its cousin, Cydonia oblonga, mentioned above.
Acknowledgments – thanks to the following for helpful information
– www.rhs.org
– www.drschar.com
– www.permaculture.co.uk
– www.practicalplants.org
