There is good evidence that the quince was cultivated and traded by the Phoenicians as early as the twelfth century BC.
We know too that they were still popular 1,500 years later, as there are records of Arab princes ordering the fruit to be brought to Baghdad from afar along with melons packed in ice and shipped in lead containers and prized Damascus grapes and plums.
These days we hardly eat them at all anymore unless it's in the form of membrillo, a kind of Portuguese or Spanish quince cheese. But as the cook and food writer Diana Henry demonstrated to Anna McNamee, the fruit is still more versatile than you might think.
