Vintage Virginia Apples

COLE'S QUINCE is often called just Quince, and is also known as Pear Apple, Quince Apple, Seneca Favorite and Seneca Spice. It originated in Cornish, Maine, and was described in 1806. S. W. Cole, the son of Captain Henry Cole who raised it, in his American Fruit Book of 1849, described it as "flesh when first ripe, firm, juicy, pleasantly of a mild, rich, high quince flavor and aroma. When in perfection we have never seen its superior." The size is medium to large with a shape intermediate to flat, convex, ribbed at the eye and on the body. The skin is yellow with a red flush on the sun-exposed side and has yellowish-white flesh, coarse-grained, crisp, juicy and tender, with a light acidic flavor. Suitable for culinary use in July, it ripens fully as a dessert apple in August.