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Help with identification
Cosmos72
Posts: 5
in Fruit & veg
Does anyone know what these are that we have found growing in our garden? They look like apples and when sliced they have a core and pips too...
Many thanks 
0
Posts
I'm useless at ID'ing things but also look like apples to me, even branch looks like apple. Crab apples ? Bet I'm wrong so don't eat them.
They look like the fruit of the Japanese quince aka Chaenomoles. Did it have flowers like this early last spring? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaenomeles There are different colours.
Although they're not the Cydonia quince which is traditionally used for cooking, the Chaenomoles can also be used. I use them when pot-roasting a pheasant or guinea fowl, and you can also make quince jelly and use them in other recipes - there are lots online.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I think chaenomeles
In the sticks near Peterborough
I think its a Quince, wee look at the leaves makes me think not an apple
A A Milne
Thank you so much for such a speedy and informed reply! Yes it did have those exact flowers! So pleased that we can use them and now that I know what they are I'll have a look online for some recipes.
So grateful to you
They're hard and tough, even when ripe - I find they're usually best used to add a delicious tart flavour to apple and pear recipes, rather than eating the flesh.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I have these too. Were I not too late I would have agreed re Jap quince
Good to see I could make jelly with them as I wasn't sure 
Not how many more I have left as was doing some lopping of tree yest 
Bit of a late posting I know but -
if you're making jelly with quinces there is no need to go to the bother (& it IS a bother because they are soooo hard) of peeling & coring them. Just wash & chop them up before cooking. All the pips and skin etc goes into the muslin / jelly bag for straining overnight. Crab apple jelly is really scrummy with all sorts of meats (hot & cold) & cheeses & a spoonful added to gravy / casseroles and even apple pie makes them taste great. Usually well received as a Ch*******s stocking filler too.