How about Asian persimmons (Fuyu and such)? They are even better, but a little different, than American persimmons. I would kill to be able to really grow them here. I'm experimenting, but long term they won't make it due to weather.

Really, there are all kinds of unusual fruits out there that many people haven't tried. If I lived in Zone 7, I'd be experimenting with things like Butia capitata, the Chilean Jelly Palm, with various hardy types of pomegranates, with the various Citranges, which are hybrids of regular citrus and the hardy Poncirus trifoliata, with figs, with Pineapple Guavas.

I do have a question about your quince -- 1" and brown doesn't sound like any quince I know, even the flowering quinces -- those generally have a 2 to 4 inch diameter fruit with is kind of an orange color when ripe. I am wondering if what you sampled isn't a quince, but is perhaps a Medlar, which is related to quince, but has roughly 1 to 2 inch, brown fruits that aren't eaten until fully softened (called "bletted") and are said to taste like applesauce with cinnamon?

I thought they were some sort of small asian or ornamental pears earlier in the season... They have an appley/pearish taste.. very flavorful and fragrant with a good acidity that is often lacking in pears and apples... and when hard, they are sweet but very very astringent....

The pix don't really look much like a Medlar... and the flavor is way off the description....

You would swear it was a pear tree if you didn't know better... but it is too flavorful to be a pear....

They definitely aren't really edible till they are mushy soft and slimey..... Then, they are super duper fragrant and quite sour....

I made 5 pints of jelly -- you would swear it is apple jelly, except it is dark red/brown and about 10x more fragrant... but it is apple type fragrant....

Whatever it is -- I am going to set out seeds to see if they will come up....

Thanks

John

Your #2 sounds like a super ripe jujube -- more ripe than I've ever witnessed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Jujube

#2 can't be a jujube, they generally dry out instead of going mushy, and they are not sour or astringent. My guess would be some kind of seedling pear, maybe you could swear its a pear tree because .. its a pear tree :-) Also the only quinces I have had go to mush were rotted bad-tasting ones. If the leaves were shiny its definitely not a quince.

Scott

Confirmation -- it is some sort of a feral/ornamental pear....

The Ag extension guy says they are fairly common in the area around old homesteads - and that they used to be used for jelly and cider a lot, but that they aren't used for much of anything anymore except flowers.... People just aren't interested in making their own jelly and ciders any more....

Apparently, they aren't as popular as the Bradfords and Cleveland Improved (Any more) because of the abundance of fruit -- they are quite prolific and make a big mess if you aren't interested in doing something with it....

It's a shame -- because I have never tasted a Pear that was anything like this.... The ripe flavor is *Really* intense, massively fragrant, and quite tart....

I will be planting some of the seeds....

Thanks

My guess is that a lot of these old pears are rootstock seedlings that by chance were more tolerant of fireblight that killed whatever was once grafted on top of them. America's nursery trade long got its seeds for pear rootstock from the perry (pear cider) mills of France. These of course were using cider selections of pears.