> Maybe [edibility] depends on the variety? / Isn't raw quince hard as a rock?
quite likely. The beautiful ornamental quince https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaenomeles_japonica is technically edible but hard and sour. You can see the fruits in the middle photo of the link - yellow, size of a large plum, and smell just amazing; really, if you ever get a chance to smell the ripe fruit, do. I understand they can be cooked to make them palatable.
> It's really bitter by fruit standards, more so than cooking apples.
Not bitter but sour (acidic). Anyway, happens I tried a cooking apple recently, am sure they're much less sour than when I was a kid. Anyway, compared to ornamental quince above, the ones you get in middle-eastern shops in london are much larger. Some examples, but not the right colour, can be seen here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quince and are perfectly edible raw and unsugared (edit: size is larger, about the size of a large cooking apple but shaped like a ruby ball)
Yes, exactly. I'm only familiar with the variety that's common in Greece, it's harder than other fruit but not so hard that it's a problem. It's also not bitter, we have a different word for its taste.
It's not as widely popular as other fruits, but I like it a lot and eat it often when it's in season.
> Maybe [edibility] depends on the variety? / Isn't raw quince hard as a rock?
quite likely. The beautiful ornamental quince https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaenomeles_japonica is technically edible but hard and sour. You can see the fruits in the middle photo of the link - yellow, size of a large plum, and smell just amazing; really, if you ever get a chance to smell the ripe fruit, do. I understand they can be cooked to make them palatable.
> It's really bitter by fruit standards, more so than cooking apples.
Not bitter but sour (acidic). Anyway, happens I tried a cooking apple recently, am sure they're much less sour than when I was a kid. Anyway, compared to ornamental quince above, the ones you get in middle-eastern shops in london are much larger. Some examples, but not the right colour, can be seen here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quince and are perfectly edible raw and unsugared (edit: size is larger, about the size of a large cooking apple but shaped like a ruby ball)