These medium size quince grow in a hedge on an old homestead that has been completely bulldozed and replaced with buildings and roads. These fully fragrant fruit are very flavorful and make the darkest red reduction of any of the quince we know when cooked down. They make an excellent quince candy or membrillo and add a wonderful zing when cooked in with applesauce or slow cooked with meat. They seem productive but really hard to tell when they are so old and encroached by so much pavement. You must cook quince to eat it. The old timers would put quince in their dresser drawers and closets to make everything smell delicious.

A few of these bushes still cling to the edges of a development in Auburn where there used to be a sprawling homestead with pyracantha, figs, grapes and pears. Auburn has a rich agricultural and mining history, many remnants are still hanging around in odd corners, side streets and backroads. If you go to downtown Auburn you can find an enormous ginkgo tree towering over the buildings, planted over 100 years ago.