Sometimes you eat membrillos...

 So we've been trying to decide what trees to plant in our yard. It's not "easy" haha. We don't just want to plant whatever without being sure it will do well in this particular climate. And we're also kinda lazy and don't want to be fighting pests and disease with very delicate tree varieties. So we've been delaying getting and planting trees because of this. One of the trees we were considering was Quince, or membrillos in Spanish. I remembered eating them with limon, sal, y chile when I was a kid, and liking them a lot. But almost every description of the quince trees that do well in this climate mentioned they are not for fresh eating, that you have to cook or process them. I was skeptical, and felt it was really just that people here are more picky and less creative with their produce haha. So a neighbor was giving away quince because they had too many and we got some, which was perfect because we could confirm if the membrillos here were the same or similar enough to the ones we grew up eating. And here they are: 

For some reason, I don't remember them being quite so yellow, but apparently they are. 

So we tried them fresh, with some limon and tajin, and they were delicious! I thoroughly enjoyed it and it definitely brought me back to my childhood haha. 

We also made jam with them, and left some chunky and did the other one smooth. 

And we also made dulce de membrillo (Quince paste). 

cracker, pecan, dulce de membrillo, and "cream cheese". 

And this also, has a very specific taste that I remember eating and enjoying many many years ago. Pretty cool how a flavor can transport you to a long ago time and place. Also the fruits themselves were super aromatic and smelled amazing. Kinda like pineapple. It was unexpected and welcome. All this to say that we will definitely be planting a Quince tree, and I can't wait to get some fruit off of it, many years from now haha.