Girlbug, my quince fruit gets worm infested. A couple years I didn't spray it and I could cook with the fruits by cutting out the bad bits, but it was a lot of prep work. I don't know how much problem the codling moth is in your climate but thats the main bad guy here. I also have problems with fireblight but I don't think that is so bad out where you are. Quince is a wonderful fruit to cook with and I really appreciate the taste for something different. Overall its not much different than an apple in terms of the work, though. I would consider a pear if you want something that will be lower spray level. Pears are also great for cooking. I don't spray my pears at all really and I still get OK fruits (some are infested but most are good).

Scott

I was going to post yesterday to go quince all the way, but since I didn't know where you are located and what your climate and pressures are I kept my mouth shut.

For processed fruit I just think quince has a lot more flavor and is much more interesting than apple. Plus you can get apples and apple products anywhere.

If you are going to have a whole tree full of fruit I'd think you'd want to process most of it. Scott mentioned cutting around the bugs. For codling moth in quince the one's I've seen seem to be mostly in the core. Most of the flesh is usable and easily separated, especially if you aren't overly concerned about yield because you have a ton of the fruit.

For apples I usually go for the ones that are good for fresh eating, but then I run into storage problems. If the fruits are infested than even the usable portion of a given fruit has a very short shelf life.

Sunset zone 2 is in eastern Washington. My quince across the mountains in zone 6 do get the occasional worm, but they go straight to the core and flesh damage is minimal.

Quince here tends to bloom some weeks earlier than cherries,
so late frosts in zone 2 may be a problem. Make local inquiries before investing time and money on this. Have you seen another quince tree in the area?

Actually it's sunset zone 24 (So. Cal), I must have run out of room typing it in.

I haven't noticed any other quince trees in my area, but I do understand that they are low chill? So hopefully the climate is right. I have never grown apples or quince before so I have no idea if coddling moths are a big problem here.

The cultural requirements are similar but not quite the same. Quince prefers a warmer and drier climate than apple. For this reason, quince tends to do very good in California, and very bad in the humid Southeast region of the country.

When I say that quince prefers a warmer drier climate, that takes a little bit of explanation. In hot zone 9-10 climates in the Southwest that may not have much water, quince actually grows a bit better than apple. Quince is considered to be fairly drought tolerant (after the tree's root system has become established a year or two after planting). In very humid climates, especially combined with high temperatures, quince is very vulnerable to disease, fire blight being the greatest concern.

The quince variety 'Aromatnaya' (which comes from the coast of Russia near the Black Sea) is slightly more cold-hardy and slightly more disease resistant than other varieties, and is purported to be a better choice for growing in the Pacific Northwest. As for the Northeast, quince has long been grown there. In fact, the more common quince varieties in America are probably adapted to growing in this cold, fairly wet climate. The cold is not such a huge deterring factor as quince can also be found growing in Nova Scotia.

Both quince and apple are excellent for cooking, and can make superb culinary dishes. Long ago in Europe, before they had modern apple varieties, apples were primarily cooking fruits. This was back during the time when women typically prepared all the family's food themselves, very-labor intensive by today's standards.

Quince also contains a substantially higher ratio of pectin than apple. When you add a little bit of quince to a recipe, you don't need to use any thickener.

The flavor and aroma of quince and apple are different, although related. Quince is much more fragrant than apple, and when cooked, the flavor is more pungent (like cough syrup, not in a bad way). Within the flavor of quince, there is kind of an element that is like the most aromatic apple, floral, but there is also an exquisite flavor similar to fine pear in there. The ripe fruits have a scent reminiscent of violets.

While the flavor is wonderful and exquisite, most varieties of quince are nonetheless very astringent before being cooked. Some have likened it to biting into wood, with sawdust in your mouth. I would describe it this way: part of you wants to keep eating but you can't. There are a couple of quince varieties that are possible to eat raw, if thinly sliced. These may be dipped into a chili vinegar sauce with crushed peanuts, or served on a cracker with cheese. Raw quince has a denser texture than apple as well, maybe more spongy.