Golden treasure

      One of our retired farmer neighbours had been picking Beurre Hardy and Comice Pears in his overgrown orchard when he announced to Boss that there was a crop of Quince in amongst the pears too. If you were to pick one of these fruit thinking it was a super ripe pear you'd need some set of teeth because they are absolutely rock hard, you'd certainly be your dentist's best friend.
      Apparently the pear trees were originally grafted onto a quince rootstock and because the the trees have been left unpruned the rootstock has, over the years, produced shoots which have grown sufficiently to be able to bear fruit.
      Down the orchard they go and return with a large basket of quince that will be converted into quince jelly once they have ripened a little in the greenhouse.
      More autumn treasure for the winter cupboard.
      Now where's that runcible spoon?