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Mystery Plant
christian.dowdeswell
Posts: 5
in Plants
Good morning. I have a small shrub in a house I moved in to. It has some odd fruit around 3/4 inch across that look like a Tiny pumpkin. When cut open it looks more like an apple. I assume inedible, but does anyone have any ideas as to what it may be?
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Posts
Looks very quince like to me. Mine looks the same this time of year
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I agree with Pete8, they definitely look like quince fruit. They are tough to eat and usually used in cooking. Keep an eye on your plant. If it's Chaenomeles Japonica/Speciosa, you should start to see buds forming and eventually blossoms early next year depending on where you are. Not sure about 3-4 inches across, but the one taken with your hand looks like a quince fruit.
They're the ornamental quince, Chaenomales japonica, not the culinary quince which is a Cydonia.
The ornamental quince can still be used to flavour jams and jellies etc, and is fabulous chopped up and stuffed inside and around potroasted pheasants or goose ... the fruit breaks down a bit and flavours the surrounding juices and makes a wonderful sauce when strained.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thanks I meant three quarters of an inch. My first guess was quince but in my mind quince look like bumpy pears Which is what made me doubt. I’ll check what the flowers look like next year.
They are absolutely Japanese quince and can be used to make the most fantastic jam.